Putting an end to ransomware and hackers has clawed its way up the political agenda and was the star at several international meetings in the last week, according to a June 16 report by The Wall Street Journal.
On June 16, President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Russian President Vladamir Putin to ask him to do his part in breaking up hacker networks in Russia.
On June 14, international leaders convened at the NATO summit, and the Group of Seven leading industrial nations met over the weekend to discuss disrupting ransomware and holding hackers accountable, according to documents released on both summits.
Four things to know from the meetings:
- President Biden and the leaders from the European Union institutions issued a statement on June 15, which said they are committed to working together "to address the urgent and escalating threat from criminal ransomware networks that pose risks to our citizens and companies," the Journal reported.
- Joint statements in support of forming an international coalition against ransomware may be to pressure Mr. Putin or risk being ostracized, said Stefan Soesanto, a senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zürich university.
- Before G-7's weekend meeting, President Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met to solidify their commitment to fighting cyberattacks, a document published after the meeting revealed.
- In March, Russia, the U.S. and all other nations comprising the U.N. agreed to respect cyber norms and concluded that states should not knowingly allow cyberattacks that are internationally harmful to be carried out from their nation.