Communications of the ACM
Biden Administration Combating Ransomware with Crackdown on Cryptocurrency Payments
U.S. Treasury secretary Janet L. Yellen said ransomware and cyberattacks pose "a direct threat to our economy."
The Biden administration took action on Tuesday to crack down on the growing problem of ransomware attacks, expanding its use of sanctions to cut off digital payment systems that have allowed such criminal activity to flourish and threaten national security.
The Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions on a virtual currency exchange called Suex, in the administration's most pointed response to a scourge that has disrupted U.S. fuel and meat supplies this year, when foreign hackers locked down corporate computer systems and demanded large sums of money to free them.
The illicit financial transactions underpinning ransomware attacks have been taking place with digital money known as cryptocurrencies, which the U.S. government is still determining how to regulate.
The Treasury Department said Suex had facilitated transactions involving illegal proceeds from at least eight ransomware episodes. More than 40 percent of the exchange's transactions had been linked to criminal actors, the department said.
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