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The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Issues Advisory Warning to Victims of Ransomware Attacks

Pratt’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Report

The authors of this article discuss a U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control advisory pertaining to the financial implications of succumbing to ransomware demands and paying money to foreign actors who are subject to U.S. sanctions.

Ransomware demands have surged during the pandemic. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has issued an advisory pertaining to the financial implications of succumbing to ransomware demands and paying money to foreign actors who are subject to U.S. sanctions. This OFAC guidance underscores the need for a disaster preparedness plan, as well as the need for victims of ransomware attacks to immediately engage counsel to ensure compliance with the law when responding to an attack of this nature.

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“The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Issues Advisory Warning to Victims of Ransomware Attacks,” by David J. Oberly, Jed M. Silversmith, and Matthew J. Thomas was published in the April 2021 edition of Pratt’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Report (Vol. 7, No. 3), an A.S. Pratt Publication, LexisNexis. Reprinted with permission.

This article was first published as a Blank Rome Cybersecurity & Data Privacy client alert in October 2020.