Countering ransomware: government responses in a comparative perspective

Conference item

Abstract:: Ransomware is currently a top national security threat in many countries around the world. From the disruption of critical infrastructure providers in the US in 2021 to the 2022 paralysis of governmental systems in Costa Rica, ransomware has affected millions of people as direct or indirect victims of extortion practices, data theft, and information access restrictions. Exploring how governments have responded to ransomware since its surge in 2020, this paper expands on current literature that analyzes individual incidents or isolated responses. By incorporating new data from four cases—Australia, Costa Rica, France, and Singapore—this study provides a comprehensive overview of global trends in ransomware mitigation. It introduces an analytical framework based on five levers, ranging from technical to political. The findings underscore a dual focus on improving government coordination through policy centralization and responsibility-sharing while reinforcing publicprivate partnerships. Across the cases examined, ransomware responses have been multifaceted yet closely aligned with each country’s overall cybersecurity posture.

Files:: Radu_2025_Countering_ransomware_government.pdf

(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 333.3KB, Terms of use)

Publisher:: IEEE
Host title:: 2025 17th International Conference on Cyber Conflict: The Next Step (CyCon)
Pages:: 91-108
Publication date:: 2025-05-26
Acceptance date:: 2025-05-12
Event title:: 17th International Conference on Cyber Conflict: Over the Horizon (CyCon 2025)
Event location:: Tallinn, Estonia
Event website:: https://ccdcoe.org/uploads/2025/05/CyCon_2025_The-Proceedings-of-the-17th-International-Conference-on-Cyber-Conflict.pdf
Event start date:: 2025-05-27
Event end date:: 2025-05-30
EISSN:: 2325-5374
ISSN:: 2325-5366
EISBN:: 9789916978993
ISBN:: 9798331525750

Language:: English
Keywords:: ransomware

cybercrime

mitigation

national cybersecurity strategies

offensive capabilities
Pubs id:: 2128065
Local pid:: pubs:2128065
Deposit date:: 2025-06-04
ARK identifier:: ark:/29072/ora_86ff65a2c5bb4cbabe6bc2683d90a0f9

Copyright holder:: NATO CCDCOE Publications, Tallinn
Notes:: This paper was presented at the 17th International Conference on Cyber Conflict: Over the Horizon (CyCon 2025), 27th-30th May 2025, Tallinn, Estonia. The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.

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