The State Department will offer rewards up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of anyone engaged in foreign state-sanctioned malicious cyber activity, including ransomware attacks, against critical U.S. infrastructure.
A task force set up by the White House will coordinate efforts to stem the ransomware scourge.
The Biden administration is also out with a website, stopransomware.gov, that offers the public resources for countering the threat and building more resilience into networks, a senior administration official told reporters.
In another move Thursday, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network will work with banks, technology companies and others on better anti-money-laundering efforts for cryptocurrency and more rapid tracing of ransomware proceeds, which are paid in virtual currency.
Officials are hoping to seize more extortion payments in ransomware cases, as the FBI did in recouping most of the $4.4 million ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline in May.
Read more at NEWSMAX.
{Matzav.com}
