In this video, the speaker explains that a recent U.S. Treasury Department advisory warns that paying ransomware victims may now be illegal because the ransom money can fund nation‑state actors and embargoed countries, effectively subsidizing crime and terrorism. He argues that widespread payments by companies, insurers, and governments reinforce attackers, allowing them to invest in more sophisticated tools and target more victims. While acknowledging the dilemma faced by ransomware victims—who need data restored and may be under regulatory pressure—the speaker urges a strategic shift away from paying ransoms toward investing in robust cybersecurity: prevention, rapid detection, and effective response. He highlights best‑practice recommendations, the importance of treating ransomware as a serious business risk, and predicts that other governments will likely adopt similar stances, making ransom payments increasingly illegal and penalized worldwide.
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Paying ransomware isn't just a bad idea, it may now also be illegal. So the US Treasury Department has just come out with an advisory and basically said, too many people are paying criminals, they're paying nation-state-sponsored attackers. And even more importantly, the money in some cases is being funneled to embargoed nations. This is causing a major problem for not only our government and our citizens, but for people all over the world. In fact, paying ransomware might even be subsidizing not only more crime, but even terrorism. So be very careful moving forward, right? The reality is, is far too many people companies, insurance firms, and even government agencies. They've been paying ransomware far too much. It is creating a massive problem, and it's reinforcing the attackers to continue to press forward. They're reinvesting some of those funds into better technology to go out and fleece even more people. So we have to stop paying ransomware. Now, for somebody that's been infected by ransomware, it's really a dilemma because they probably need their files back, their systems up and running. They may even be under regulatory guidance, and, and infractions and penalties may be piling up, right? But we need to think about this strategically. Stop paying, and instead understand you need to start investing in better security. We need to start preventing this And we also need to start detecting it faster and being able to respond much more effectively, right? Having one or two files encrypted is nowhere near as bad as having all your databases and backups and everything else encrypted. Now, there are a ton of best practices out there. There are many vendors and tools and solutions that are out there, but the very first step is for people to realize this is a real threat, and no longer is it an inconvenience and fine, they'll just pay for it, or they'll buy insurance to just pay for it. Now this might be illegal. So many of those options may be off the table, or the penalties even much greater than if you just simply think about security as table stakes for doing business in this global digital economy. If you're reliant on the digital ecosystem, you need to protect yourself, you need to take it seriously. And the companies that don't are gonna suffer. And those that try and pay off the attackers are doing more harm, not only to themselves, but to everyone. And I expect not only the US government to be taking this stance, I expect other governments around the world to follow suit because they see the strategic challenges. They see the geo-global political impacts to this. So the world just got bigger, and now there's more of a focus on how we're going to deal with ransomware. I advocate that you think ahead, you plan accordingly, you get your act together, and we make sure that we are all very well protected against ransomware.
