US authorities to control cryptocurrency transfers

The ad­mi­nistra­tion of the Pre­si­dent of the Uni­ted Sta­tes is creating a spe­cial team to tightly and closely mo­ni­tor di­gi­tal cur­ren­cy tran­sac­tions that are being trans­fer­red to hackers through ran­som­ware. Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor to the President for Cyber and Emerging Technology, announced the formation of a special commission to investigate hacker attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States.

The special commission is to propose options to contain the growing threats and prevent the actions of hackers who run ransomware on computers and demand money to unlock the database. They must also find ways to block payments to cybercriminals on cryptocurrency platforms.

Also, there are plans to develop other options for combating the criminal hacking of systems, such as a reward for helping to find hackers who perpetrated cyber-attacks, as well as the development of a system for promptly receiving information from companies whose infrastructure have been infected with ransomware.

Furthermore, the special commission will assist victims of hacker attacks and take measures to protect the internal infrastructure of enterprises from viral attacks that are spread by ransomware.

According to Anne Neuberger, the United States should, together with its allies, demand that other countries do not harbour cyber criminals on their territory. She said that Congress should work out cybersecurity rules and standards for businesses. In turn, the members of the international ransomware group, Ransomware Task Force, previously proposed an effective tool against the practice of non-compliance with AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and KYC (know your customer) laws and regulations.

In early June, the US authorities seized a large amount of money from the digital wallet of hackers from the DarkSide group and returned it to the Colonial Pipeline, which had to pay the hackers to unlock their computer systems.