WASHINGTON, D.C.– The following statement can be attributed to Christopher D. Roberti, Senior Vice President for Cyber, Intelligence, and Supply Chain Security Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
“Today thousands of businesses will be successfully attacked by criminal gangs using ransomware. The average downtime due to an attack is 21 days and on average it takes a business 287 days to fully recover from an attack. Enough is enough. Businesses are outnumbered and law enforcement doesn’t have the resources to keep up.
“It is time for the U.S. Government to act decisively against these criminal cyber attackers and stop them from operating with impunity. Cybercriminals must be put on notice that attacks on our country and economy will not be tolerated. The U.S. and allied governments must work together with the private sector to confront these challenges head on. It is time for our government to utilize its full range of capabilities – including criminal and cyber – to take the fight to these cyber gangs.”
Today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling on the administration and Congress to, among other steps:
- Update a national signaling strategy to communicate through diplomatic and other channels that ransomware attacks, especially on critical infrastructure, are an enforcement and national defense priority.
- Disrupt international ransomware payments systems.
- Enhance international law enforcement resources.
- Establish an international coalition to combat ransomware.
- Enhance capabilities for malware detection, sandboxing and analysis, and information sharing.
- Establish a Cyber Response and Recovery Fund for victims of cybercrime.
