The White House has begun its second annual International Counter Ransomware Summit in which Biden administration officials will convene with representatives of three dozen nations, the EU, and private business to discuss the growing threat posed by data-destroying cyberattacks. President Biden will not be attending the meetings.
According to administration officials previewing the summit over the weekend, the two-day event will focus on priorities like improving system resilience and developing better plans to disrupt ransomware actors in the planning phases of digital assaults.
The Biden administration said it was motivated to pursue a second summit after the ransomware attack on Los Angeles schools last month, which it said underscores the urgency of the ransomware threat.
See: https://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/ransomware-isn-t-going-anywhere
Along with the EU and its member nations, participants at the summit to include Mexico, the Republic of Korea, a few African nations, Ukraine, the UK, Japan, Israel and others. Businesses such as Crowdstrike, Mandiant, Microsoft, and other organizations with a security concerns will be invited. The FBI Director Christopher Wray, national security advisor Jake Sullivan, and other department leaders will be attending too.
Ransomware is an ever-present threat that's constantly in the headlines. Even with ransomware numbers down this year, there still is not much good news. While lower than 2021 highs, the number of ransomware attacks in the first nine months of 2022 total more than every year on record, and we still have a quarter of tracking left to account for.
President Biden signed tougher cybercrime incident reporting into law earlier this year that requires a report within 72 hours of detecting a breach and the establishment of a national incident reporting system among other new rules, and it couldn't come at a better time.
According to statements from the Biden administration this weekend, the US government is concerned that ransomware attacks are outpacing the government's ability to stop them, which it cited as another reason to hold the second summit.
Last year's International Counter Ransomware Summit was held online in mid-October, and as one would expect from such high-level international summits, much of what was discussed came out as platitudes. In 2021, the international group agreed to develop a framework for international ransomware information sharing, improve anti-money laundering models, and use international diplomatic efforts to dissuade countries from allowing ransomware operators to function within their borders, which has worked great so far.
It is up to all organizations to take steps and adopt procedures to protect themselves from ransomware attacks. No government can stop these attacks except for the counties that are sponsoring or benefitting from the ransom payments.
The following is what Red Sky Alliance recommends:
- All data in transmission and at rest should be encrypted.
- Proper data back-up and off-site storage policies should be adopted and followed.
- Implement 2-Factor authentication-company wide.
- For USA readers, join and become active in your local Infragard chapter, there is no charge for membership. infragard.org
- Update disaster recovery plans and emergency procedures with cyber threat recovery procedures. And test them.
- Institute cyber threat and phishing training for all employees, with testing and updating.
- Recommend/require cyber security software, services and devices to be used by all at home working employees and consultants.
- Review and update your cyber threat and information security policies and procedures. Make them a part of all emergency planning and training.
- Ensure that all software updates and patches are installed immediately.
- Enroll your company/organization in RedXray for daily cyber threat notifications are directed at your domains. RedXray service is $500 a month and provides threat intelligence on ten (10) cyber threat categories including Keyloggers, with having to connect to your network.
- Purchase annual cyber insurance coverage from Red Sky Alliance provided by Cysurance.
Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the office directly at 1-844-492-7225, or feedback@wapacklabs. com
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Website: https://www.wapacklabs.com/
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Weekly Cyber Intelligence Briefings:
REDSHORTS - Weekly Cyber Intelligence Briefings
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3702558539639477516
.pdf here: TR-22-305-002.pdf
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