Page 82 - Cyber Defense eMagazine January 2024

Reshaping the Focus of Cybersecurity

Key Insights from the International Counter Ransomware Initiative Statement

By Todd Thorsen, Chief Information Security Officer, CrashPlan

Earlier in November, media outlets widely reported the contents of a remarkable joint statement. The
International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI), comprising 40 countries, declared that they would no
longer pay ransom to bad actors. In the same policy statement, CRI also agreed to create a shared
blacklist of wallets used by ransomware actors and help any of their members respond in the event of a
ransomware attack. In addition to these strong stances against ransomware, the coalition also welcomed
13 new members this year. All this signals that ransomware is looming large as a global concern for
several states — and that there is a genuine interest in developing strong, consistent international policy
responses to a growing problem.

The problem is real. From 2019 to 2022, the number of ransomware attempts worldwide went from 187
million to 493 million, according to Statista. Moreover, Corvus’ Q3 2023 Global Ransomware Report
noted that global ransomware attack frequency went up 95% in the last year. Against this backdrop, CRI’s

Cyber Defense eMagazine – January 2024 Edition 82
Copyright © 2024, Cyber Defense Magazine. All rights reserved worldwide.