The government has postponed plans to ban the payment of ransoms to cybercrime groups for at least two years. However, the government still believes that a ban on ransom payments is inevitable in the future. The issue of a ban was brought up during a consultation on the cyber security strategy earlier this year, asking for industry opinions on whether payments should be prohibited and under what circumstances. The responses received highlighted the complexity of implementing an outright ban, as it could be cheaper than other methods of recovery and remediation following a ransomware attack. Minister for cyber security Clare O’Neil stated that more groundwork needed to be done before a ban could be introduced, including properly resourcing and equipping the federal police force to deal with cybercrime and establishing a system of support for companies experiencing cyber attacks. O’Neil emphasized that allowing payments to continue indefinitely would fuel the ransomware problem and encourage threat groups. The government recently revealed its new cyber security strategy for the years 2023-2030.
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