By Justin Katz
May 05, 2021
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House are putting the spotlight on combatting ransomware, actively developing plans to confront the issue.
DHS has assembled a task force with representatives from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Secret Service, Coast Guard and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit, according to Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The new task force is part of the secretary's planned "60-day sprint" on ransomware that was announced in March as the first in a series of new efforts.
"Beyond CISA…the entire federal government is stepping up to face this challenge," Mayorkas said at an April 29 event hosted by the Institute for Security and Technology. "The White House is developing a plan dedicated to tackling this problem," and the Justice Department recently established its own task force focused on ransomware, he confirmed.