Security News > 2022 > November > International summit agrees crack down on crypto to combat ransomware

The White House's second International Counter Ransomware Initiative summit has concluded, and this year the 36-nation group has made clear it intends to crack down on how cryptocurrencies are used to finance ransomware operations.

Last year's summit ended with far fewer actionable, concrete steps in this direction, concluding with a joint statement indicating "Countering illicit finance" was a priority without stating in specific terms that the Countering Ransomware Initiative was focused on cryptocurrencies.

The White House, which hosted the summit, said the CRI group planned to "Take joint steps to stop ransomware actors from being able to use the cryptocurrency ecosystem." The CRI said sharing information about known crypto wallets used for laundering ransom funds was one part of the new strategy.

Other new commitments made during the summit include plans to hold another workshop on improving blockchain tracing and analytics to counter money laundering, developing an active information sharing platform between private and public entities, writing new international standards for preventing and responding to ransomware, and improving international agency cooperation "To strengthen resilience and law enforcement capacity to combat ransomware [in] other countries."

The Lithuanian Regional Cyber Defense Center will also begin playing host to a new "Fusion cell" that will be used to test a scale version of the ICRTF and operationalize ransomware threat info.

CRI members will work in the coming year to build a ransomware investigator's toolkit that "Will allow CRI partners to benefit" from prior incidents outside their borders, are committing to publishing joint advisories, will work to build "Active and enduring" private/public sector ransomware engagement, agree to hold biannual counter ransomware exercises and help build a single ransomware framework used to coordinate priority targets and relay information to law enforcement groups to take action.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/11/03/ransomware_summit_cryptocurrency/