R.J. LEHMANN ON Ransomware Payments
Insurance Journal – ICLE Editor-in-Chief R.J. Lehmann was quoted by Insurance Journal regarding a new insurance industry principles document that opposes bans on so-called “ransomware” payments under cyber insurance policies. The full story is available here.
R.J. Lehmann, senior fellow at the think tank International Center for Law & Economics, says he does not think a ban would work and could encourage more attacks on high-value targets.
“The urge to ban ransom payments is understandable and, in an ideal world where it could be enforced nearly all of the time, perhaps it would even be a good idea. But in the real world, so long as the damage inflicted by a cyber attack is greater than the cost of the ransom, we can predict that ransoms would be paid surreptitiously. Rather than taking away the incentive to engage in such attacks, a ban on ransom payments would be likely to shift hackers focus to the highest value targets where an interruption would do the most damage to society,” Lehmann told Insurance Journal.