The US government is reportedly set to announce new measures, including sanctions to deter cryptocurrency businesses from getting involved in laundering and facilitating ransomware payments. People familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the US Treasury Department could enact the new sanctions as early as the week of 20 September 2021. They will reportedly target cryptocurrency exchanges and traders who either knowingly or unwittingly enable cybercrime transactions. Among other initiatives, the Treasury Department handed down new reporting rules concerning international cryptocurrency transactions and for those that take place outside of central exchanges, per the WSJ. While the goal is increased transparency, security experts have said that those mandates could stifle some criminal activity.
It is anticipated that the sanctions will go after specific targets and will not look to take down the infrastructure where the crimes were suspected of happening. Aside from hitting purported marks, the sanctions are expected to serve as a deterrent to hackers, many of whom are thought to be based in Russia, according to published reports.
As part of the measures, the government will also issue new guidance explaining the risks involved in facilitating ransomware payments, including significant fines and other penalties. The move would seem to be in keeping in line with the direction that the Biden administration has prioritized ransomware as a national security threat.
Following the Colonial Pipeline attack in early May 2021, the White House issued an open letter to CEOs to persuade them to take the threat more seriously. Reports have also revealed plans to elevate attacks to the same priority level as terrorism.
Then administration started a DoJ Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force, which had a significant victory by helping to seize more than half of the funds paid to the Colonial Pipeline attackers.
Biden’s executive order on cybersecurity will also help drive improvements designed to mitigate the impact of ransomware across the federal government, including the introduction of multi-factor authentication (MFA) and zero trust principles. It will also make it easier for organizations across public and private sectors to share information following incidents.
The US has also led efforts at a G7 and NATO level to denounce Russia for harboring cybercrime groups that engage in ransomware. The White House has repeatedly claimed it reserves the right to go after these groups unilaterally if no action is taken to contain them.
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