‘Millions’ in taxpayer money paid to cyber criminals in recent years – minister

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Speaking to broadcasters on Tuesday’s morning media round, Mr Jarvis said cyber criminals based in countries like Russia are “quite literally holding our country to ransom” and warned the problem was “extensive.” Asked how much public bodies had paid out in recent years, Mr Jarvis said “significant” sums had been handed over, telling Times Radio: “Millions of pounds have been paid. “It’s a huge problem internationally.” On how much the NHS had given, Mr Jarvis said: “The truth of the matter is we don’t know the precise figures, because there isn’t a mandatory reporting regime.” Asked whether that meant that a trust could have paid out thousands of pounds to criminals to get its computers back without the Government knowing about it, he said: “In theory, that is the case, and that’s why we’re looking to change the law to bring in a mandatory reporting regime so we’ve got much more visibility of these kind of activities. “We are working internationally with our allies as well, but these cyber criminals are incredibly devious in the tactics that they use, but it is the wrong approach for public sector authorities to actually pay these ransoms, because… there’s absolutely no guarantee even if they were to pay the ransom, they get the information that they require.” Cyber criminals are incredibly devious in the tactics that they use Security minister Dan Jarvis The Home Office said the introduction of its proposed scheme would help deter criminal gangs from attacking national infrastructure and public sector bodies such as the NHS, local councils and schools. “The point is that we’ve identified this gap in the armoury… part of this will introduce a mandatory reporting regime which will bring ransomware out of the shadows and maximise the intelligence used by the UK’s law enforcement agencies and help guard against these threats in the future.” The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has previously highlighted ransomware as one of the biggest cyber threats facing the country.