Director of FBI says it is investigating ~100 types of ransomware, many tracing back to Russia, and compares the challenge of this wave of cyberattacks to 9/11
Christopher Wray points to Russian hackers, calls for coordinated fight across U.S. society — FBI Director Christopher Wray …
The Russia attribution matters because it connects a dispersed set of malware cases to a common international source, giving the FBI’s call for coordination a geopolitical as well as operational dimension.
First-order effects
The FBI is elevating ransomware across roughly 100 tracked variants into a coordinated U.S. response, pressing public and private organizations to treat attacks as a shared security problem.
DOJ’s ransomware task force gains a clearer mandate to pair individual cases with prosecutions targeting the wider criminal ecosystem.
Second-order effects
U.S. hospitals and other potential targets face greater pressure to maintain recoverable systems, following the earlier FBI-backed warning on ransomware resilience.
Financial institutions become a more consequential enforcement partner as investigators pursue the payment flows that sustain ransomware operators; later FinCEN reporting documented a sharp rise in likely ransomware payments.
Third-order effects
Ransomware is being recast from an episodic corporate-security incident into a national-security problem spanning law enforcement, critical organizations, and financial channels.
If investigations continue to tie major campaigns to Russia, U.S. cyber policy will increasingly have to join domestic resilience measures with responses to cross-border criminal infrastructure.
The trend: Ransomware enforcement is moving toward an ecosystem-wide model that combines victim preparedness, payment tracking, and action against internationally linked operators.
Perfect time to point out that ID-Ransomware has now reached 1,000 ransomware strains yesterday! Most are junkware, so the ~100 estimate sounds about right in terms of the number of professional ransomware gangs. https://id-ransomware.malwarehunterteam .com/ https://twitter.com/.…
Media: “@FBI director Christopher Wray said the agency is investigating about 100 different types of ransomware, many of which trace back to actors in #Russia.” @aviswanatha https://www.wsj.com/... @WSJ https://twitter.com/...
One of the most interesting things FBI Director Wray said in his interview w/ @WSJ was that companies hit with ransomware should come forward because the FBI can often help them obtain the encryption keys needed to unlock systems without paying a ransom. https://www.wsj.com/... h…
Countering ransomware problem requires imposition of costs “FBI Director Christopher Wray, in a WSJ interview, calls the fight against cyberattacks a shared responsibility that includes government agencies, the private sector and average Americans” https://www.wsj.com/...
Remember 9/11? Of course you do. Remember that ransomware attack against that company that one time in 2010? Of course not, because THAT'S A RIDICULOUS COMPARISON.
Well *that* is interesting: DIRFBI Christopher Wray compares ransomware attacks to 9/11...citing *Russian actors.* I'm curious as to how deep the comparison goes. 🧐 https://www.wsj.com/...
FBI Director Wray singles out Russia for harboring groups carrying out ransomware on US targets, and likens the challenge to 9-11 and fighting terrorism. https://www.wsj.com/...
Each of the ransomware variants the FBI is investigating has affected b/w a dozen and 100 targets...so we're talking thousands of incidents. https://twitter.com/...
“Complaints to the FBI and reports from the private sector show ransomware incidents have tripled in the past year, Mr. Wray said. https://twitter.com/...
In new @WSJ interview, Wray told @aviswanatha the agency is investigating about 100 different types of ransomware, many of which trace back to Russia, and compared the current spate of cyberattacks with the challenge posed by Sept. 11. https://www.wsj.com/...
New: Employees at multiple @cox_media local news stations tell me they've been unable to access email or other internal networks since yesterday, in what appears to be a another ransomware attack. Developing story. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
This is a positive indication that we're getting serious about stopping ransomware. Much more needs to be done, but directional shifts are a good thing. https://www.reuters.com/...
Good move by @TheJusticeDept to centralize data reporting about ransomware attacks, which pose a significant threat to national security. Coordinated response will help identify perpetrators who are targeting multiple victims around the country. https://www.reuters.com/...