Justice Dept. Creates Task Force to Stop Ransomware Spread

One goal of the group is to take down the criminal ecosystem that enables ransomware, officials say.

The Justice Department is forming a task force of FBI agents, prosecutors, and national security representatives to stop the spread of ransomware attacks.

This group will increase training and dedicate more resources to the ever-growing problem of ransomware, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the task force. Some reports state as many as one in four cyberattacks today involve ransomware, which affects thousands of businesses each year.

Citing an internal memo, the report explains this task force wants to improve intelligence sharing across the department and work to identify “links between criminal actors and nation-states.”

The memo also notes that one of its goals is to develop a strategy that targets the entire criminal ecosystem around ransomware, including stopping ongoing attacks and disrupting certain services that enable ransomware, like Dark Web forums that advertise ransomware for sale.

The full Wall Street Journal report can be found here.

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