UK moves forward with plans for mandatory reporting of ransomware attacks

The UK Home Office published its response to a ransomware policy consultation proposing a payment ban for public sector and critical national infrastructure, pre-payment notification to government, and mandatory incident/payment reporting; while welcomed as increasing seriousness, experts question whether it will deter opportunistic threat actors, note the lack of new funding for law enforcement despite operations like the LockBit disruption, and highlight potential misalignment with the forthcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill’s scope for critical infrastructure.