Cryptocurrency Crackdown Won’t Stop Ransomware, CISA Official Says Get the latest federal technology news delivered to your inbox.
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The scourge of ransomware will proceed with or without closer regulation of the ecosystem that facilitates victims paying anonymous criminals to unlock or return data they steal and hold hostage, a senior Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency official said.
“Criminals have always found an innovative way to continue the attack [through] some mechanism so, you know, if we were to magically flip a switch and make Bitcoin for instance completely transparent, they re going to find another way to do it,” said CISA Deputy Director Nitin Natarajan.
In their 81-page report, A Comprehensive Framework for Action: Key Recommendations from the Ransomware Task Force, experts share proposed guidance to deter ransomware attacks, disrupt its business model, help organizations prepare, and better respond to the global threat.
While other threats, such as business email compromise, also cause tremendous losses for businesses each year, RTF is focusing on ransomware because of its massive impact. One of the concerns we have is the scope and scale of ransomware, says Megan Stifel, executive director for the Americas at the Global Cyber Alliance and co-chair of the RTF. It s holding parts of the ecosystem and the economy at risk, particularly aspects of critical infrastructure, that can give rise to a range of cascading consequences that in some cases individually, or certainly collectively, can create a significant national security problem.