A senior White House official said on Tuesday that a US-led alliance of 40 countries plans to sign a pledge never to pay ransom to cybercriminals and to work toward eliminating the hackers’ funding mechanism.
The International Counter Ransomware Initiative comes after the number of ransomware attacks increased worldwide. The United States is by far the worst hit, with 46 percent of such attacks, Anne Neuberger, US deputy national security adviser in the Biden administration for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters on a virtual briefing.
Neuberger said, “As long as there is money flowing to ransomware criminals, this is a problem that will continue to grow.”
In ransomware attacks, hackers encrypt an organization’s systems and summon ransom payments in exchange for unlocking them. Often they also swipe sensitive data and use it to extort victims and leak it online if the payments are not made.
While hundreds of firms fall victim every year, high-profile US attacks happened in the last two months at casino operator MGM Resorts International and cleaning products maker Clorox. Both companies have not yet fully recovered from the disruptions.
The new initiatives by the alliance seek to stop the criminals’ funding through better information sharing about ransom payment accounts, Neuberger said. Two information-sharing platforms will be created, one by Lithuania and another jointly by Israel and the UAE.
Reuters reported details of this initiative on Monday.
Fellow countries will share a “black list” through the US Department of Treasury that will include information on digital wallets being used to move ransomware payments, Neuberger said.
The step will use artificial intelligence to analyze blockchain to identify illicit funds, she added.
The volume of crypto payments to ransomware attackers is on its way to its second-biggest annual total on record, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said in July.
