Ransomware 2021-Critical mid-year update

Overview: The importance of more comprehensive and standardized information gathering in ransomware investigations, whether provided by victims or gathered by law enforcement, cannot be understated. This may require Congress, Federal agencies, or State and Local governments to remove legal barriers and potentially provide incentives for public and private sector entities to be able to report ransomware incidents without fear of additional damages. Ransomware is a crime that can threaten every aspect of our lives, from infrastructure and commerce, to national security risks. And while some argue that the nature of cryptocurrency facilitates the crime of ransomware, its nature also facilitates incomparable visibility that benefits law enforcement immensely. By incentivizing and encouraging the reporting of cryptocurrency addresses that are associated with known threat actors, and by providing the resources necessary to understand and combat them, law enforcement and the U.S. government as a whole will be able to do more comprehensive analysis of ransomware attacks, provide better threat prevention assistance to the public, and protect the country from national security risks.