Global ransomware task force to launch in January

Ransomware has decimated businesses and organizations globally for years, and Australia is now taking the lead to counter this thriving cyber threat. Cybersecurity minister Claire O’Neil will announce the start of task force operations in January, per a senior Biden administration official.

The effort was first announced in November by the White House as an International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI) Joint Statement.

Australia is no stranger to ransomware attacks, as recent months have seen organizations like Medibank suffer major cyberattacks. It is fitting then, that they take the lead in the formation and operation of the global cyber task.

The White House added Australia is taking the lead “because they’ve had some very major ransomware attacks. They recognize that the network is global [and] the people are global so to take it on really requires global operational partnerships,” per CyberScoop.

O’Neil, a Medibank customer herself, has been an outspoken critic of companies’ data protection efforts and cybercriminals.

“If you do so, you will be aiding and abetting the scumbags who are at the heart of these criminal acts and I know that you would not do that to your own country and your own citizens,” O’Neil told Australian Parliament in November.

Counter Ransomware Initiative has a global focus

CRI membership includes over 36 countries and the European Union. Members include countries including Australia, United States, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, and many more across the European Union, Africa, and South America.

The CRI will focus on “resilience, disruption, and efforts to counter illicit financial activities globally,” according to a White House administration official.

The White House has already issued a series of sanctions against ransomware actors, cryptocurrency exchanges, and other platforms that aid and abet cybercriminal activity. Ransomware actors largely rely on cryptocurrency to carry out attacks and receive payment from victims.

Ransomware continues to be a priority for the Biden administration, as an embarrassing ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline in 2021 disrupted the entire eastern seaboard.