Treasury Department signs new partnership with Israel to combat ransomware

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Israeli Ministry of Finance have announced a new partnership to combat ransomware.

Under the bilateral partnership, both will work together to protect critical financial infrastructure and emerging technology while expanding international cooperation to counter the threat ransomware poses to countries and the global economy.

The cooperation will occur under the auspices of a broader new U.S.-Israeli task force on financial technology innovation and cybersecurity. The task force will work on developing a memorandum of understanding that will support permissible information sharing relating to the financial sector.

Such information will include sharing cybersecurity and guidance, cybersecurity incidents, cybersecurity threat intelligence, staff training and study visits. There is also a goal to establish competency-building activities such as cross-border cybersecurity executives linked to global financial institutions’ financial and investment flows.

In addition, the task force will launch a series of expert technical exchanges on policy, regulation and outreach to support fintech innovation with robust cybersecurity protection. Compliance with international standards on anti-money-laundering and counterterrorist financing are also on the agenda.

“Harnessing both the power of international cooperation and of technology innovation will position us to support economic competitiveness, prosperity and to combat global threats including ransomware,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said in a statement Sunday. “As the global economy recovers and ransomware and other illicit finance threats present a grave challenge to Israel and the United States, increased information exchanges, joint work, and collaboration on policy, regulation, and enforcement are critical to our economic and national security objectives.”

The announcement comes amid ongoing attention from the Biden White House on ransomware and other cyberattacks in the wake of the Colonial Pipeline Co. attack in May. That attack resulted in Biden signing an executive order to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity defenses on May 12. The White House held a summit meeting in August to discuss major cyberattacks.

“International partnerships are going to be absolutely critical in the battle against ransomware actors,” Adam Flatley, director of threat intelligence at Redacted Inc., told SiliconANGLE. “This isn’t something the U.S. can or should try to do alone.”

Photo: Jewishwebsite.com