UK plans to ban public sector bodies from paying ransom to cyber criminals

Britain plans to ban public sector bodies and operators of critical national infrastructure, including the state-run health service, local councils and schools, from paying ransom demands to cyber criminals, it said on Tuesday.

The country has been the victim of many high-profile ransomware attacks in recent years, from the “WannaCry” cyber attack that crippled Britain’s National Health Service in 2017 to the British Library suffering disruption when it refused to pay a ransom in 2023.