Cybersecurity Policy Report, White House Corrals Allies, Resources for Ransomware Fight, (Oct 2, 2024)
The Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI) launched by the Biden administration in 2021 has grown its membership to 68 nations and international organizations and plans to offer new resources to help ransomware targets prevent and recover from attacks, the White House said today.
The CRI welcomed 18 new members this week during a four-day summit that ends tomorrow and announced progress on its various initiatives, including the establishment of a fund administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development and supported by contributions from CRI members and the private sector to help organizations recover from ransomware attacks.
The group’s announcements were short on specifics, but the effect of their work was demonstrated by yesterday’s news of a coordinated global effort to disrupt one of the world’s most active ransomware gangs, Russia-based Evil Corp (CPR, Oct. 1).
During the meetings, Australia released “an international ‘Ransomware Playbook’ providing guidance to businesses on how to prepare for, deal with, and recover from a ransomware or cyber extortion attack,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Canada intends to lead a new public-private advisory panel “establishing a trusted set of private sector partners for CRI members to rely on when faced with responding to ransomware attacks,” the White House said.
“The US and UK completed a project on secure software and labeling principles, producing a report that summarizes the most common software vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that lead to ransomware attacks, and provided actions for software manufacturers to take to address them,” it added.
“During the Fourth CRI Gathering, members reaffirmed our joint commitment to develop collective resilience to ransomware, support members if they are faced with a ransomware attack, pursue the actors responsible for ransomware attacks and not allow safe haven for these actors to operate within our jurisdictions, counter the use of virtual assets as part of the ransomware business model, partner with the private sector to advise and support CRI members, and forge international partnerships so we are collectively better equipped to counter the scourge of ransomware,” the group said in a joint statement.
“Of note, CRI members and insurance bodies have endorsed guidance to help organizations experiencing a ransomware attack. The guidance underscores the important role cyber insurance can play in helping to build resilience to cyber attacks and highlights actions organizations should explore during an incident,” according to the joint statement.
Complicating the group’s work, however, is the fact that non-CRI member nations, Russia in particular, provide safe haven to ransomware operators and even enlist them to conduct cyber attacks on behalf of the Russian government.
In addition, the CRI’s efforts have not led to decreases in the number of ransomware attacks.
“Last year, there were more than 6,600 ransomware incidents in 117 countries—a 73 percent increase from the previous year—including over 2,800 events in the United States alone,” Richard Verma, the State Department’s deputy secretary–management and resources, told the group.
“That’s 6,600 times that cyber criminals have sent malicious code to lock someone out of their computers—or threaten to leak sensitive information—until their victims paid up,” Mr. Verma said, according to a transcript of his remarks.
“To regain access to their systems and data, targeted institutions handed over more than $1 billion just last year. But the impact of ransomware goes beyond the direct and indirect financial cost,” he said.
“What makes ransomware so devastating is the way that it actually affects our everyday lives—crippling the hospitals where we receive care; exposing financial data and other personal information; disrupting municipal services like fire and police departments,” he added.
But the CRI hopes to pressure Russia and other nations that harbor cyber criminals through its solidarity, the recruitment of new members, and ongoing work to address ransomware. At this year’s summit, a CRI task force led by Australia and Lithuania produced a statement on “responsible behavior in cyberspace,” the White House said.
The task force will ask all CRI members to sign the statement and “hold bad actors accountable and deny them safe haven using all of the cyber diplomacy and law enforcement tools at their disposal,” the White House said. “The CRI continues to call for responsible behavior in cyberspace and encourage members to call out malicious acts.”
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