The White House invites dozens of countries to a summit on extortion
The White House is bringing together three dozen countries, the European Union and a host of private sector companies for a two-day summit starting Monday to consider how best to combat ransomware attacks
The second International Ransomware Summit will focus on priorities such as making systems more resilient so they can better withstand attacks and thwart the attackers who plan such attacks.
A senior Biden administration official cited recent attacks, such as the one in the Los Angeles school district last month, to underscore the urgency of the issue and the summit.
“We are seeing the speed and sophistication of ransomware attacks grow faster than our resilience and efforts to stop them,” a senior administration official explained during a briefing on the event.
Among the administration officials scheduled to attend the event are FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. President Joe Biden is not expected.
Participating countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, European Commission, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States.
Fifteen private sector companies that work with governments to prevent future ransomware attacks will also participate. Participating companies include Crowdstrike, Mandiant, Cyber Threat Alliance, Microsoft, Cybersecurity Coalition, Palo Alto, Flexxon, SAP, Institute for Security + Technology, Siemens, Internet 2.0, Tata – TCS and Telefónica.
The previous summit was held virtually.
Bo Erickson contributed to this report.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-invites-dozens-of-nations-for-ransomware-summit/