White House wants a strong task force to respond to ransomware operators with cyberattacks and ban ransomware payments

Jul 15, 2021 17:19 GMT  ·  By

According to a Senate staffer who spoke candidly on conditions of anonymity, many federal agencies have taken various defensive and offensive actions through a yet-to-be-named task force, Politico says. 

Countries working to combat ransom payments made through cryptocurrencies are also developing procedures to block those payments, as well as working with allies overseas to do so, an aide said. He added that the task force can launch cyberattacks on ransomware operators to combat them.

Yesterday, Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, gave members of Congress a 35-minute briefing on the upcoming executive order. The announcement that a task force has been established to combat ransomware operators comes at the same time when lawmakers and cyber experts are calling on President Joe Biden to do more in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's lack of action on ransomware operators.

Recent cyberattacks have affected significant portions of the East Coast's gasoline supply, forced a major meat producer to shut down its operations, and compromised software company Kaseya and thousands of other companies affiliated with it.

It's difficult to imagine countries in Europe taking as drastic actions as the United States 

However, there are limited alternatives for influencing Putin's approach. All previous sanctions have proven to be ineffective, and even in the event of their successful implementation, additional cryptocurrency regulations face tough odds.

Europe's strategic alliance with Russia is significantly reliant on Russian energy supplies, and as a result, retaliatory cyberattacks could end up harming them.

It appears that Congress has already decided on its path. The bipartisan group of senators plans to present legislation in the coming weeks or months that requires critical infrastructure operators like power grids to notify the government about cyber attacks.

A similar bill is in the works of the House Homeland Security Committee. Without having adequate information on the private sector's breach, the federal government has said it is hamstrung in its efforts to keep the country safe from digital dangers.