A team consisting of 19 security companies, technology companies and non-profit organizations, led by big names like Microsoft and McAfee announced Monday that they plan to form a new coalition to address the growing threat of ransomware.
It was named Ransomware Task Force (RTF). The new team will focus on evaluating existing technical solutions that provide protection during a ransomware attack.
RTF will involve stakeholders from all industries, identify gaps in current solutions, and then work on a common roadmap to address issues among all members.
The end result will be a standard framework for dealing with attacks ransomware in vertical sectors, which is based on tips of the industry and not on individual advice received from individual contractors.
The 19 original founding members reflect RTF's commitment to bringing together a diverse group of experts:
- Aspen Digital
- Citrix
- The Cyber Threat Alliance
- Cybereason
- The CyberPeace Institute
- The Cybersecurity Coalition
- The Global Cyber Alliance
- The Institute for Security and Technology
- McAfee
- Microsoft
- Rapid7
- Resilience
- SecurityScorecard
- Shadow Server Foundation
- Stratigos Security
- Team Cymru
- Third Way
- UT Austin Stauss Center
- Venable LLP
At present, ransomware is neither the most common form of malware nor the type of cyber attack that causes the biggest financial losses to companies each year. This title is held by the BEC attacks (from Business Email Compromise), according to the FBI.
Nevertheless, ransomware is still a major threat with increasing trends, and ransom demands are increasing quarter by quarter.
The Ransomware Task Force website, which will include all the details and leadership roles, will be up and running next month, in January 2021.
