The UK government wants to ban public authorities from paying ransoms in ransom ransomware attacks to combat cybercrime.

The proposed measure aims to protect essential services and disrupt the cybercrime business model. The government will legally ban ransom payments by public institutions and introduce a ransomware incident reporting regime. Private firms will have to notify the government before making payments, and the data collected will help authorities identify the perpetrators of attacks. This comes in the wake of several recent cyber attacks that have hit the UK economy.