California is following Wyoming in enacting a new law to address criminals who spread ransomware.

The California legislature has passed a new law to make it easier to prosecute cyber-criminals. The law specifically addresses those who spread ransomware with a penalty of four years in jail. Senate Bill 1137, which was signed in September, took effect on the first of the year. This updates and differentiates the act of ransomware from other forms of extortion.

Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) explains that this new statute will help prosecutors "the clarity they need to charge and convict perpetrators of ransomware.” It is in response to the growing scourge of ransomware that is affecting more and more private citizens. He noted that there has been “a dramatic increase in the use of ransomware," which the new law treats what is "essentially an electronic stickup, with the seriousness it deserves.”

Kaspersky Labs has noted that between the period of April 2015 and March 2016, ransomware has seen more than two million individuals affected, an 18 percent spike from the previous year. The FBI underscores the devastation of ransomware in that the U.S. lost more than $209 million in ransomware payouts in just the first three months of 2016. Compare that to the $25 million lost in all of 2015.

Hertzberg regards the bill as addressing ransomware as the crime "which is essentially an electronic stickup, with the seriousness it deserves.”

Source: SCMagazine