Heathrow Airport, M&S, Jaguar Land Rover, Harrods, and Southern Water are just some of the names that have been targeted by a spate of cyberattacks on high-profile British businesses this year.

A growing wave of cyber incidents has seen the networks of various organisations infected with ransomware causing severe disruption by encrypting or scrambling their data. The M&S cyber incident saw data stolen from thousands of customers and employees, allowing the attackers to compound the retailer’s embarrassment by sending the ransom demand directly to its chief executive with an employee’s email account. Meanwhile, a late summer cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover is estimated to have cost the UK economy almost £2bn.

A rising number of organisations are facing a nightmare scenario – rebuild all computer systems from scratch or pay anonymous hackers millions of pounds in ransom for the antidote. Some of the organisations above have refused to say if they paid up or not.

In response, the UK Government is drafting legislation that would make Britain’s laws on ransomware some of the strictest in the world.  The measures under consideration are:

1. Mandatory reporting: requiring organisations to inform UK authorities when they sustain a cyberattack.
2. Authorisation regime: mandating private sector organisations to seek permission from UK authorities before making payments to cybercriminals.
3. Ban on payments: organisations that are deemed to be part of critical infrastructure will face a complete ban on paying cybercriminals, as will the entire public sector.

If adopted, these measures would match only Australia in their aggressive crackdown on the business model of hackers.

Download the full report

Contact

To learn more about how these changes could impact your organisation, or for support in cyber security preparedness, contact the H/Advisors team.

Vikki Kosmalska, Partner

H/Advisors Maitland

vikki.kosmalska@h-advisors.global

Mairi Maclennan, Partner

H/Advisors Cicero

mairi.maclennan@h-advisors.global

Roddy Thompson, Consultant

H/Advisors Cicero

[email protected]