The U.S. government announced that the investigation of ransomware attacks will be elevated to a high priority similar to terrorist

After ransomware has repeatedly attacked US government agencies, universities, medical institutions, private enterprises, and even infrastructure, the US government has begun to crack down on ransomware attacks.

According to Reuters, the US Department of Justice has announced that it will directly raise the investigation of ransomware attacks to a high priority similar to terrorist attacks.

To this end, the US Department of Justice will set up a special task force in Washington, DC to conduct investigations and coordination, and the purpose is to track all ransomware and arrest the perpetrators.

Of course, as you know, such hacking attacks usually exist across multiple countries and regions, so it is not easy to find and even arrest hackers.

“Cryptolocker ransomware” by Christiaan Colen is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

In terms of terrorism, the US government will coordinate a variety of forces for tracking, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Central Intelligence Agency.

If the priority of ransomware investigation is mentioned as the priority of terrorism, this means that various US intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies may participate in the investigation.

So although ransomware is not easy to track, it is not easy for hackers to escape if a country concentrates multiple law enforcement forces to strike.

The special task force established by the US Department of Justice is used to coordinate and track ransomware. Ransomware attacks that occur across the United States need to be reported to the task force.

For this reason, the U.S. Department of Justice has issued internal guidelines to prosecutors’ offices throughout the United States, and relevant information is reported to the special working group, followed by intensive investigation and tracking.

The Acting Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Justice said that through this special procedure, they can track all ransomware cases no matter where they occur.

In this way, all ransomware participants can be connected and the entire chain can be disrupted through other law enforcement forces, thereby mitigating the current intensified ransomware attacks.