The U.S. and U.K. governments have “committed and agreed to
heighten the focus on illicit use of cryptocurrency and ransomware,” the
U.S. Department of Justice announced. According to the FBI, high crypto
prices have partially made ransomware “incredibly lucrative for the
criminals.”
Governments Collaborate to Focus on Illicit Use of Crypto
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that Deputy
Attorney General Lisa Monaco and officials from its National Security
Division and Criminal Division met with U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel
in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
“In their meeting, both governments discussed their close cooperation
against numerous threats to their countries’ collective security,
including with respect to combating terrorism, cybercrime, and illicit
finance,” the DOJ detailed, adding:
Both the deputy attorney general and the home secretary
committed and agreed to heighten the focus on illicit use of
cryptocurrency and ransomware, as well as to continue the dialogue about
emerging threats to national security.
The U.S. government has been trying to combat ransomware attacks. In October, Monaco announced the launch
of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, a DOJ initiative to
tackle and prosecute “criminal misuses of cryptocurrency, particularly
crimes committed by virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling
services, and money laundering.”
In the same month, President Joe Biden said that the U.S. will bring together 30 countries to stop “the illicit use of cryptocurrency.”
FBI Says Ransomware Lucrative Due to ‘Valuation of Virtual Currency’
In a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform last
week, Bryan Vorndran, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division,
noted that high crypto prices are fueling criminal networks and
ransomware actors.
The hearing was part of a congressional investigation into
multimillion-dollar ransomware attacks on major U.S. companies this
year, including Colonial Pipeline Co. and the U.S. division of JBS
Foods.
“In the last six months, we have not seen a decrease in the amount of
frequency of reporting of ransomware attacks,” Vorndran said, adding:
We attribute that to the simple fact that it’s incredibly
lucrative for the criminals. That’s partially due to the valuation of
virtual currency, but it’s partially due to the vulnerability of our
systems and in our infrastructure.
Global Efforts Lead to Arrests and Seizures
The U.S. government has recently taken action against some ransomware actors. In September, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned
a cryptocurrency exchange for the first time as part of the
whole-of-government effort to counter ransomware. Suex was allegedly
“responsible for laundering ransoms.”
Early this month, another crypto exchange was sanctioned.
Chatex allegedly facilitated “financial transactions for ransomware
actors.” In addition, two alleged ransomware operators — Ukrainian
Yaroslav Vasinskyi and Russian Yevgeniy Polyanin — were sanctioned “for
their part in perpetuating Sodinokibi/Revil ransomware incidents against
the United States.” The DOJ also seized $6.1 million from Polyanin.
National Cyber Director Inglis said last week that Polyanin’s arrest
resulted from a collaboration between countries since the arrest
occurred when he crossed the border into Poland. “Cyberspace is a
borderless terrain, and therefore, as much as they can reach us we can
reach them,” he opined, elaborating:
If we bring allies to bear, we can use jurisdiction in
places like Poland and Romania to apprehend these criminals and bring
them to justice using the courts of law that exists in the West.
In October, a coordinated strike
involving Europol, Interpol, and the FBI led to the arrest of two
“prolific” ransomware operators allegedly responsible for ransom demands
of up to 70 million euros. Cryptocurrencies worth $1.3 million were
seized.
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