The United States of America criticized the Putin government for not moving a finger against cybercriminals. The fight against cybercrime was one of the topics that appeared as a discussion at the G8 meeting in 2021.
After a series of accusations that some US authorities and official representatives threw upon Russia about the little commitment the Russian government had to the fight against cybercrime, the situation now appears to have changed its course for good.
In July 2021, the president of the United States of America, Joe Biden, said he had warned the Russian government that there could be serious consequences if they do not start a proper fight against an increasing wave of cyber-attacks that appears to have their base of operations in Russian Territory.
Right after this announcement, other US entities highlighted that Russia could be shielding cybercriminals or at least offering some kind of protection to them. Even news outlets expressed concerns about this situation, describing a country like Russia as the paradise of this kind of attack.
However, new information shows that Russia is currently moving its pieces to combat these attackers. On February 9, the research firm Elliptic released a report highlighting the closure of the biggest trading markets that negotiated stolen credit cards through the Dark Web.
According to the information, the attackers managed to acquire more than USD 260 million in bitcoin, and other currencies. These entities had traffic of at least 17% of world trade in this type of malicious practice. The Russian government managed to close at least 50% of world trade in this form of crime.
A slight Collaborative Spirit between Russia and the United States of America
Right after the accusations the United States of America threw upon the Russian government, there is evidence that indicates that a collaboration between the two states would be taking effect to combat cybercrime.
An important case was the dismantling of the hackers called REvil. Intelligence reports highlighted that this team of hackers carried out its activities in Russian territory.
The capture of the criminals took effect due to coordinated work between Russian and American agencies committed to fighting against these activities. For a team like REvil, one of his common victims was both public and private companies that carried out commercial activities in the United States of America.
The best example of this situation was the Acer Company, which was forced to pay more than USD 50 million in Monero to this group of criminals.
Global Union against Ransomware Attacks and Cybercrime
At the last G7 meeting, which unites all world powers in a table to discuss subjects of global interest, one of the points to be on the debate was global and coordinated collaboration against ransomware attacks. This discussion took effect because the losses from such attacks surpassed USD 2.4 billion, which, according to various nations, is a situation that needs to get stopped.
Ransomware is disruptive software that aims at a user’s information. Once the hacker has taken this private information, he encrypts it and bribes the user to send the payment, usually requested in bitcoin or some other private currency, such as Monero.
US authorities decided to describe ransomware attacks as a form of “terrorism.” Payments for bribes would also get sanctioned in the United States of America.
By: Jenson Nuñez
