IC Oversight — 2026-04-22

Former FBI cyber deputy Kaiser urges terrorism designations, felony-murder charges for ransomware actors who target hospitals

Cynthia Kaiser, former FBI Cyber Division deputy assistant director and now SVP of Halcyon's Ransomware Research Center, testified Tuesday before the House Homeland Security Committee that State, Justice, and Treasury should evaluate Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations for ransomware groups that knowingly and repeatedly strike hospitals, and urged prosecutors to examine federal felony-murder charges where such attacks produce documented patient deaths. Kaiser cited a 2023 University of Minnesota study identifying at least 47 ransomware-linked hospital deaths from 2016-2021 and said the real toll is very likely in the hundreds. The hearing followed February ransomware attacks at the University of Mississippi Medical Center that forced clinic closures and surgery cancellations.

Analysis
FTO and SDGT designations for hospital-targeting ransomware groups would activate material-support statutes against domestic ransom payers, likely chilling the commercial negotiation market. The felony-murder theory is almost certainly years from a conviction regardless of prosecutorial interest. Kaiser's standing as immediate-past FBI Cyber deputy gives the proposal internal-community credibility that less-proximate voices have lacked. Corroborated across CyberScoop, Nextgov, and the primary committee record, interim agency action (FBI Criminal Investigative Division reprioritization or OFAC threat-actor-specific designations) is likely within the next six months, with HHSC-Oversight companion legislation likely by fall 2026. The State Department has historically declined to designate criminal actors under terrorism authorities absent a foreign-government nexus. RaaS operators typically lack that link, which may cap designation prospects at the rhetoric stage regardless of congressional pressure.

3 sources

Lawmakers ponder terrorism designations, homicide charges over hospital ransomware attacks - CyberScoop
Former FBI official proposes terror designations for ransomware hackers targeting hospitals - Nextgov/FCW
Statement for the Record - Cynthia Kaiser - April 21 2026 Hearing - US House Committee on Homeland Security