| The Biden administration is responding to the growing threat of ransomware attacks with a vigor and seriousness unparalleled in the government's decades-long battle against hacking. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray captured the scope of the new effort, comparing it to the government-wide response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "The scale of this problem is one that I think the country has to come to terms with," he told the Wall Street Journal. The response to the wave of costly and disruptive attacks — in which hackers lock up victims' computers and demand payment to free them — involves nearly every facet of the federal government. It was spurred most recently by high-profile ransomware attacks against the energy and food sectors but also by a drip, drip series of hits on schools, hospitals and local governments that collectively demonstrate an unacceptable level of vulnerability across the nation's vital infrastructure. Here's a rundown of what the federal government is doing: The Justice Department has elevated ransomware investigations to the same level as terrorism probes. The White House has begun issuing a raft of new cybersecurity requirements for gas pipelines. And President Biden has pledged to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin during their summit this month about ransomware gangs operating on Russian territory and to rally U.S. allies to address the problem. Top government officials are also bluntly warning companies they must increase their digital protections to prevent a wave of similar attacks and pushing them to level with the government when they do pay hackers ransoms. The government effort is far broader than previous responses to major hacks, even to blockbuster ones such as the Kremlin-linked SolarWinds breach that compromised a slew of government agencies or the Office of Personnel Management hack that compromised personnel records of more than 20 million federal employees and typically is attributed to China. It reflects a shift from treating ransomware as a pesky criminal problem to one of vital national security. Indeed, White House officials are increasingly arguing that ransomware attacks against critical industries could become so disruptive they have global implications, Ellen Nakashima, Hamza Shaban and Rachel Lerman report. Among their efforts, officials are trying to convince U.S. allies to force more transparency from cryptocurrency exchanges operating on their territory and that process ransomware payments, a senior administration official told my colleagues. The goal is to force those exchanges to reveal the recipients of especially large exchanges of cryptocurrency, making it easier for law enforcement to track likely ransom recipients. "There are cryptocurrency exchanges all around the world, and we want to ensure that there's a common threshold of 'know your customer' rules, which are in place and implemented so there aren't places to hide funds," the official said.  President Biden walks from Marine One. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) | The Justice Department also is urging U.S. companies to proactively tell the government when they pay ransoms — even as they urge companies not to pay those ransoms if at all possible. On NBC's Meet the Press, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) pushed for legislation mandating that companies tell the government when they pay ransoms. He stopped short of endorsing a ban on ransomware payments, which some cybersecurity experts have promoted. "There's going to be a debate about whether these companies should pay ransomware," he said. "But there ought to be more transparency, if a company does pay, so we can go after the bad guys." | Share The Cybersecurity 202 |  |  |  | | | 
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