The defensive initiatives include a reward for information on nation-state actors and the formation of a new interagency ransomware task force.

Under pressure to halt ongoing and highly damaging ransomware attacks from Russian criminal groups, the Biden administration yesterday announced a flurry of defensive initiatives to deal with the crisis. These announcements come one week after President Biden issued a stark warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin to deal with the ransomware threat groups in his country or else the US will take action to dismantle the threat.

First, the State Department announced that its Rewards for Justice program, which the Diplomatic Security Service administers, will give a $10 million reward to anyone offering information that leads to identifying state-sponsored threat actors. Specifically, rewards will be given to those who supply information that leads to the “identification or location of any person who, while acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, participates in malicious cyber activities against US critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).”

The Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program has set up a Tor-based dark web reporting site to protect the safety and security of potential sources. Additionally, the RFJ program works with interagency partners to enable the rapid processing of information and the possible relocation of and payment to sources.

Second, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced it would convene a FinCEN Exchange in August 2021 focused on ransomware concerns. The Exchange will be composed of financial institutions, other key industry stakeholders, and federal government agencies. The goal of the meeting is to inform FinCEN’s next steps in addressing ransomware payments.

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