On September 21, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control released its Updated Advisory on Potential Sanctions Risks for Facilitating Ransomware Payments. In the first portion of the updated advisory, OFAC reiterates the reasons why the U.S. government has, and continues to, strongly discourage anyone from paying a ransom demanded in a cyber-attack. In particular, OFAC notes that making a ransom payment does not guarantee that a malicious actor will reprovision a company’s access to data or refrain from further attacks against the company, and that the availability of payments may encourage malicious actors to perpetrate more attacks. OFAC also highlights that paid ransom money can be used to fund activities adverse to U.S. interests, and that the law prohibits any U.S. person from engaging in a transaction, whether directly or indirectly, with a group or individual on its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (or other block list).
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