U.S. cyber policy leaders urged to ban payments to ransomware attackers

LAS VEGAS. U.S. cybersecurity leaders who continue to grapple with countering ransomware attacks received some on-stage advice here from Def Con founder Jeff Moss, who made an impassioned pitch for banning ransomware payments that he said are fueling the growing capabilities of bad actors in cyberspace.

“I hate paying adversaries to get better,” Moss said, suggesting that policymakers could institute a ban on payments “in pieces” starting with certain industries. But others like hospitals that face imminent life-and-death situations when...