The Biden administration is preparing an array of actions, including sanctions, to make it harder for hackers to use digital currency to profit from ransomware attacks, as reported by WSJ.
The US is expected next week to sanction crypto exchanges, wallets, and individuals who aid ransomware gangs to convert the cryptocurrency.
As cryptocurrency is a required component of ransomware operations, the Biden administration hopes to disrupt this payment method and associated attacks with sanctions.
“An action of this kind would be an aggressive, proactive approach to going after those who facilitate ransomware payments,” Ari Redbord, a former senior Treasury security official, told the Wall Street Journal regarding the expected sanctions.
The expected sanctions are not the first the US government has levied against threat actors associated with ransomware gangs.
