As the average ransomware payment soars past $1.3 million and impacts businesses across almost every sector in Australia, experts are still split on whether banning the payments would curb the issue or create even more perverse outcomes.
Some see an outright ban on paying cybergangs as the “least bad option” the government has left, while others say it could break cooperation with authorities that has taken years to build and put critical services in the firing line.
The former Cybersecurity minister Claire O’Neil last year declared that an outright ban is inevitable in Australia, but was forced to shelve the idea after pushback from businesses and warnings of unintended consequences.
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