White House plans 30-country meeting on cybercrime and ransomware –official

Washington, Oct. 1 (BNA) US President Joe Biden said on Friday that top US national security advisers will bring together officials from 30 countries this month with plans to combat the growing threat of ransomware and other cybercrime.

Biden said in a statement that an online session hosted by the White House National Security Council will also aim to “improve law enforcement cooperation” on issues such as “the illicit use of cryptocurrencies.”

Reuters reported that the Biden administration has raised the level of its cybersecurity response to the highest levels of management in the wake of a series of attacks this year that threatened to destabilize the US food and energy supplies.

Meat producer JBS SA (JBSS3.SA) paid $11 million to end an attack on its systems that halted production and is believed to have originated from a criminal group with Russian links.

colonial pipeline [RIC:RIC:COLPI.UL] It paid a hacker gang believed to be based in Eastern Europe nearly $5 million to regain access, some of which were later recovered by US law enforcement.

Both companies paid the ransom in bitcoin.

The ransomware works by encrypting the victims’ data. The hackers usually give the victim a key in exchange for cryptocurrency payments that can run into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

The Biden administration hopes its new unofficial group, which they call the Anti-Ransomware Initiative, will bolster their diplomatic thrust that has included direct talks with Russia as well as with NATO and the Group of Seven wealthy nations.

The administration has increasingly focused on preventing what it calls China’s “malicious cyber activity,” charges that Beijing has denied.

It was not immediately clear which countries would participate or when exactly the meeting would take place.

One White House official said they are particularly keen to tackle “the abuse of virtual currency to launder ransom payments” and plan to “investigate and prosecute ransomware criminals,” many of whom are anonymous and attack institutions in other countries.

NS