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US countermeasures included an attempt to cut off funding sources for the hackers.
The United States Cyber Command has publicly acknowledged the conduct of offensive actions to neutralize cybercriminal groups that have attacked American companies with ransomware.
A spokesman for US Cyber Command declined to clarify in an interview with CNN what action the team of experts took. The computer operatives of the US military are increasingly eager to hack into criminals, not just statesmen who pose a threat to critical US infrastructure. But this is one of the first unequivocal evidence from Cyber Command that the agency is targeting criminal groups that hold the computer systems of American enterprises "hostage."
US government security officials have begun to actively pursue ransomware groups after attackers hacked into the networks of the fuel giant Colonial Pipeline and the world's largest meat producer JBS earlier this year.
According to the head of the US Cyber Command and the National Security Agency Paul Nakasone, the US government has launched offensive actions against the ransomware operators, including trying to cut off funding sources for hackers.
The US government's counteroffensive against ransomware groups, many of which are based in Eastern Europe and Russia, also includes indicting alleged extortionists and sanctioning cryptocurrency exchanges accused of laundering money for hackers.
However, it is not only the US government that has decided to take more aggressive measures against ransomware. The UK Government Liaison Center has announced plans to use national cyber forces formed last year to hack and pursue ransomware groups. Although the details of such operations are usually kept secret, they usually involve blocking the signals of the criminals' phones or interfering with their servers, the Financial Times notes.
The United States Cyber Command has publicly acknowledged the conduct of offensive actions to neutralize cybercriminal groups that have attacked American companies with ransomware.
A spokesman for US Cyber Command declined to clarify in an interview with CNN what action the team of experts took. The computer operatives of the US military are increasingly eager to hack into criminals, not just statesmen who pose a threat to critical US infrastructure. But this is one of the first unequivocal evidence from Cyber Command that the agency is targeting criminal groups that hold the computer systems of American enterprises "hostage."
US government security officials have begun to actively pursue ransomware groups after attackers hacked into the networks of the fuel giant Colonial Pipeline and the world's largest meat producer JBS earlier this year.
According to the head of the US Cyber Command and the National Security Agency Paul Nakasone, the US government has launched offensive actions against the ransomware operators, including trying to cut off funding sources for hackers.
The US government's counteroffensive against ransomware groups, many of which are based in Eastern Europe and Russia, also includes indicting alleged extortionists and sanctioning cryptocurrency exchanges accused of laundering money for hackers.
However, it is not only the US government that has decided to take more aggressive measures against ransomware. The UK Government Liaison Center has announced plans to use national cyber forces formed last year to hack and pursue ransomware groups. Although the details of such operations are usually kept secret, they usually involve blocking the signals of the criminals' phones or interfering with their servers, the Financial Times notes.
