Security News > 2021 > July > Interpol urges police to unite against 'potential ransomware pandemic'
Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock urged police agencies and industry partners to work together to prevent what looks like a future ransomware pandemic.
"Despite the severity of their crimes, ransomware criminals are continuously adapting their tactics, operating free of borders and with near impunity," Stock said today at the INTERPOL High-Level Forum on Ransomware.
"Much like the pandemic it exploits, ransomware is evolving into different variants, delivering high financial profits to criminals."Ransomware has become too large of a threat for any entity or sector to address alone; the magnitude of this challenge urgently demands united global action which INTERPOL can uniquely facilitate as a neutral and trusted global partner.
While not necessarily a sign of things to come if police agencies around the world respond to Interpol's call to arms, previous international operations coordinated by Interpol have shown that police worldwide fighting crime together can lead to outstanding results.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also added during a Tuesday White House briefing that the US would take action against Russian-based ransomware gangs if "the Russian government cannot or will not" do it.
In June, after the Colonial Pipeline and JBS ransomware attacks, Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger warned US businesses to take ransomware seriously.