Ransomware attacks are at an all time high in the United States, hackers are disrupting computer systems administering crucial infrastructure and refuse to give access until the ransom is paid, generally in Bitcoin or other hard to track crypto currency (decentralised). Earlier this year, hackers cracked down one of the biggest agencies in US (Colonial Pipeline).
In June 2021, hackers attacked a meat processing industry to shutdown nine beef plants. Cyberattacks on smaller organizations that include Baltimore City Government, Steamship Authority of Massachusetts, which get low attention, but hint towards a general scenerio of ransomware cybercrime. New York Times reports "The United States should also prohibit transactions with the American banking system by foreign banks that do not impose stricter regulations on cryptocurrency. Because access to the American financial market is vitally important to foreign banks, they, too, would have a strong incentive to comply."
Biden government took some restrictive measures to limit the impact of these attacks. An executive order made Federal government to outline a plan for the issue. In a meeting held last week, President Biden requested leaders of Google, Apple and other organisations to come up with a plan for dealing with these attacks. However, this doesn't solve the issue root problem. Ransomware attacks happen because of monetary benefits. If it becomes hard for criminals to make profit out of these attacks, maybe they will decrease. By handling crypto currency with aggressive measures, government can limit its use for illegal purposes in anonymous payments.
In case of ransomware attacks, hackers can seize a company's resources and assets, demand ransom safely, which lowers the risk factors. The U.S government can take some preventive measures, first being enforcement of regulations for crypto currency industry equal to regulate the traditional government industry. "Cryptocurrency exchanges, “kiosks” and trading “desks” are not complying with laws that target money laundering, financing of terrorism and suspicious-activity reporting, according to a recent report from the Institute for Security and Technology. Those laws ought to be enforced equally in the digital domain," reports the New York Times
