From securityboulevard.com
On September 21, 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) once again threatened sanctions against companies for paying ransom in the event that their data or systems were hijacked by hackers.
In a new advisory, the federal agency noted that paying ransom strengthens adversaries, encourages more ransomware attacks and facilitates future attacks. It allows evildoers to profit and “advance their illicit aims” and fund activities that are “adverse to the national security and foreign policy objectives” of the United States. The advisory notes that the government “strongly discourages” the payment or cyber ransom or extortion demands.