BankInfoSecurity.com reported that “Britain’s independent privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO], and the government’s cybersecurity agency, the National Cyber Security Center” issued a letter urging “lawyers not to advise their clients to pay up. Neither should solicitors suggest that payments to criminals will lessen clients’ exposure to governmental fines. The July 11, 2022 article entitled “Don’t Pay Ransoms, UK Government and Privacy Watchdog Urge” included these comments about “paying a ransom also provides”:
•No guarantee that the victim will receive a working decryption tool;
•Zero assurance that stolen data will not be resold or leaked, whatever criminals might promise in return;
•No immunization for victims from repeat attacks by the same or other criminal groups.
In response “The Law Society responded with a tweet”:
We do not advise members to pay ransoms, nor suggest that is what they should advise their clients.
Good advice!