national security threat. jessica snyder reports. reporter: the biden administration is sounding the alarm about the growing threat of cyber attacks. fbi director christopher wray talking about how to combat this succession of hacks and cyberware about how the administration had addressed the 9/11 threats. he said that the fbi is directing about 100 different ransomware and many traced back to russia. one study says that u.s. was hit by more than 100,000 ransomware attacks last year alone costing businesses over half a billion to $2.3 billion in 2020. ransomware locks up computer files and the hackers demand money payments to release. so the techniques will show
ransomware locks up computer files, and hackers demand payment to release the files. cryptocurrency payments. these are some techniques that were just described to you. show a increase in ransom payments over the prior year. reporter: ransomware attacks have impacted everything from the gas pipeline operated by colonial that led to gas shortages all along the east coast. to meat-production plants being shut down. and even individual healthcare networks, whose computer systems have been shut down sporadically across the country and the world. before long, we are worried some people will get hurt. especially, when we consider all these incidents that are affecting healthcare. ireland s healthcare system went down. reporter: the department of justice signaling, this week, it plans to coordinate its cyberinvestigations, the same way it treats terrorism cases. by sharing information and interagency coordination.