The US allies — about 30 countries including South Korea, Japan, the UK and Canada — vowed to bolster cooperation to combat the growing threat of ransomware and other cybercrimes, at an online session hosted by the White House National Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday. Regarding this, MOFA Deputy Spokesman Hsu Jung-hwa said the government has been trying to cooperate with partner countries and international organizations to enhance cyberspace security and safeguard people’s rights and interests. At the recent session, the participants expressed their willingness to cooperate with each other and international organizations to prevent and suppress cybercrimes and pledged to pool the resources of their respective countries to cope with those.
One of the main purposes of the meeting was to discuss the applicability of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) standards to virtual asset transfers, which are often made anonymously. The FATF was established in 1989 to combat money laundering. Its membership includes 34 countries and jurisdictions, including the US. “We are in agreement that (the FATF) standards are an important framework for addressing these issues,” Tony Richards, deputy assistant secretary for international finance at the US Treasury Department, said in a news briefing. Richards added that the FATF and US officials will discuss US and international efforts to combat illicit financing and the use of digital currencies for terrorism and what steps the FATF should take to address these issues.
A number of incidents in which data has been held ransom has been on the rise in recent years, and this is usually done using ransomware software. This is a type of malicious software that holds the victim’s data hostage until a payment is made, and often, it is in the form of cryptocurrency. Sometimes this can be worth millions of dollars. If you get hit with this, there is no guarantee that you will get your data back. It’s important that you get cyber security services to prevent this from happening to you, and you should always keep backup copies of your files just in case!
“Ransomware is an escalating global security threat with serious economic and security consequences,” a joint statement read. “Governments recognize the necessity for urgent action, common priorities and complementary efforts to scale back the danger of ransomware.”
The session was seen as an effort to counter what the US calls China’s “malicious cyber activity.” In July, Washington accused Beijing of a worldwide cyberespionage campaign, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said threatens US national security. China dismissed the accusations as fabricated.
