The Biden administration has outlined several initiatives aimed at countering ransomware incidents.
The initiatives are classified into four lines of effort: disrupting ransomware actors and infrastructure; bolstering resilience to withstand ransomware attacks; addressing the abuse of virtual currency to launder ransom payments, and leveraging international cooperation to disrupt the ransomware ecosystem and address safe harbors for ransomware criminals, the White House said Wednesday.
For the first line of effort, the Department of Justice (DOJ) formed a task force to improve coordination of law enforcement and prosecutorial efforts to fight ransomware, while the Department of the Treasury released an updated sanctions advisory to encourage reporting of ransomware payments and incidents to authorities.
Some of the initiatives launched to improve resilience against ransomware include the introduction of an Industrial Control System Cybersecurity Initiative in April and the creation of a website by DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to help public and private entities reduce ransomware risk.
The White House also cited an international event hosted by the National Security Council (NSC) to speed up cooperation on network resilience improvement as part of efforts to fight ransomware.
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