The lawmakers of Australia are considering having a stringent course of action against ransomware by devising the latest framework, having increased penalties for lawbreakers. The latest actions, as well as the projected “Surveillance-Legislation-Amendment,” which was declared by the federal authorities on 13th October, were the result of a 60% boom in cyberattacks that targeted state agencies and businesses within Australia during the recent year. As per the reports, such incursions took out approximately $AU1.4B (almost $US1B) from the economy. The “Ransomware-Action-Plan” would provide the officials with the ability to freeze or seize financial transactions done through cryptocurrencies with having connections with cybercrime without any concern with the country of their origin.
The authorities target to modernize the present legislation for bringing convenience in the recovery of crypto funds being stolen on behalf of cybercriminals. Karen Andrews (the Minister-of-Home-Affairs) stated that the latest actions were planned to discourage the attacks over the businesses in Australia on behalf of the international hackers. She added that the new rigorous laws of the Australian authorities would focus on online criminality along with smashing the bank balances of the cybercrooks to a great extent. She further elaborated that the use of the stolen data as well as the purchase and trade of malware utilized in ransomware assaults will also be categorized as being criminal activities.
Operation Orcus (which is known to be a multi-agency crew) was established in recent July to deal with ransomware attacks. A majority of such attacks initiated in Russia have the deployment of DarkSide, REvil, and other such malware, which steal or encrypt the data and then require a ransom in the form of crypto in return for decrypting it. In recent times, a lot of ransomware attacks have been witnessed in Australia, among which some examples include BlueScope Steel, Toll Holdings, the NSW-Labor-Party, Nine Entertainment, Lion (a brewing company), and Uniting-Care-Queensland. In May, a similar attack targeted JBS (a company for meat processing) and compelled it to close 47 sites thereof throughout Australia.
The U.S. lawmakers are driving their efforts to a high level to deal with ransomware. Recently this month, Elizabeth Warren (an anti-crypto Senator) proposed the “Ransom-Disclosure-Act,” which was dedicated to collecting data regarding the crypto’s role in such ransomware attacks. On 6th October, Chainalysis (a firm for blockchain analytics) purchased Excygent (a company to investigate cybercrime) for strengthening its resources for the current war to confront ransomware.
