Thirty-two governments issued a joint decision to combat ransomware payment channels.
Senior officials from 31 governments and the European Union, said they would take steps to disrupt illegal cryptocurrency payment channels used by ransomware gangs to finance their activities.
The joint statement was issued following the Anti-Software Initiative teleconferences held this week by the White House National Security Council in response to ongoing attacks that revealed significant vulnerabilities in critical global infrastructure.
The communication was issued by the Ministers and Representatives of Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Ireland and Israel. Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates .
Now why the announcement has the European Union as a member and refers separately to its member states, such as France, Germany, etc., this is an unknown theme that only the White House knows.
On the subject of the announcement, however, the above found that ransomware payments that have been made public in the last two years have reached nearly $500 million in cold currency worldwide ($400 million in 2020 and over $80 million in the first quarter of 2021).
They believe that mitigating the misuse of virtual assets on a global scale will affect the business model and the main tool ransomware groups use for cybercrime to collect ransom from their victims and launder the proceeds.
The Counter-Ransomware Initiative hopes to deplete their funding and shut down their activities, disrupting the funding channels of ransomware groups.
Efforts to prevent the misuse of cryptocurrencies by ransomware groups will include regulators, financial intelligence units, and law enforcement agencies that regulate, monitor, investigate, and take action against the exploitation of fictitious assets.
They will also look for ways to work with the virtual asset industry, to strengthen the reschangeof information related to ransomware.
The states behind this action will use their financial institutions and infrastructure to jointly prevent ransomware activity targeting the critical infrastructure of international partners.
Complementary efforts will also include, through police cooperation, the improvement of the network for prevention attacks, investigating the sanctuaries of ransomware criminals and encouraging other countries to take action against ransomware groups located on their territory.
