US Military Has Acted Against Ransomware Groups: Report

The US military has taken offensive action against ransomware groups, said Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of US Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency (NSA), according to new reports.

His comments indicate the military is willing to take steps in fighting cybercriminal groups that launch ransomware attacks on US businesses, and not just nation-state actors. Attacks such as those on Colonial Pipeline and JBS show that criminal groups can affect critical infrastructure, Gen. Nakasone said in comments reported by the New York Times this weekend.

To fight these types of attacks, Cyber Command, the NSA, and other agencies have focused on collecting intelligence on ransomware attackers and sharing it with both the government and international partners, says the report, which calls this "a more aggressive, better coordinated approach" against the ransomware threat.

While he did not specify which offensive actions were taken, or the groups they were taken against, Gen. Nakasone did say one goal was to "impose costs," which is "an important piece that we should always be mindful of."

Read more details here.