Biden Prepares 30-Country Meeting on Ransomware
2 Min Read
As the United States has faced multiple ransomware attacks in the past year, the Biden Administration announced a meeting in order to deal with it.
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Washington is preparing a meeting a 30-country meeting.
At yet another attempt for the United States on "law enforcement," Biden called for, on Friday, an online meeting which constitutes 30 countries to address cybercrimes and ransomware.
As said by Joe Biden, top US national security advisors are to gather officials from 30 countries this month in order to address those concerns.
The online session will be hosted by the White House National Security Council, and it will aim at "improving law enforcement collaboration" on issues relating to the "illicit use of cryptocurrency."
The group that Biden is assembling together, though informal, is called the 'Counter-Ransomware Initiative.'
Why the sudden 'get-together'?
Multiple times this year, the United States faced cyberattacks that had threatened their energy and food supplies.
A group attributed to 'Russian links' was paid $11 million by a meat producer, JBS SA, to end an attack on their systems which got in the way of their production. Colonial Pipeline also has a similar story. They paid a group, believed to be based in Eastern Europe, about $5 million in order to reacquire access to their system.
Here's the thing: JBS SA and Colonial Pipelines paid their ransoms in Bitcoin.
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Cryptolocker ransomware gives victims 72 hours to pay a ransom for their data - in Bitcoin.
The non-traceable nature of cryptocurrency gives a springboard for many hackers and cybercriminals to demand a ransom. The cybercriminals are largely anonymous, and thus remain unaccountable by law.
It is not clear which countries are going to participate in the meeting or when the meeting will take place.
The Counter-Ransomware Initiative, as the Biden administration calls it, is hoped to be an initiative that'll support further diplomacy between Russia, the NATO alliance, and the G7.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
