Russia excluded from 30-country meeting to fight ransomware and cyber crime

Good. No-one wants the filthy Russian scum there. Let's start with some more sanctions and fines equivalent to what they have cost countries and companies. That'll fucking sort them out.

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WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Russia was not invited to attend a 30-country virtual meeting led by the United States that is aimed at combating the growing threat of ransomware and other cyber crime, a senior administration official said.
Many ransomware gangs operate from Ukraine and Russia, private sector cybersecurity experts say. Some U.S. officials and analysts have said Russian ransomware gangs operate with the Kremlin's tacit approval, but are not directly controlled by the government.
The meeting will be held over two days, involve six sessions and include topics such as addressing the misuse of virtual currency to launder ransom payments, prosecuting ransomware criminals, using diplomacy to counter ransomware, and helping nations become more resilient to such attacks, the administration official said.
Along with the United States, India, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom will lead discussions on topics such as disruption, virtual currency and diplomacy. Others joining the meeting include Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Ukraine, Ireland, Israel, South Africa, the European Union.

"We are having active discussions with the Russians, but in this particular forum they were not invited to participate," the senior administration official said, adding this does not preclude Russia from participating in future events.
The official said the United States engages directly with Russia on the issue of ransomware under the US-Kremlin Experts Group, which is led by the White House and has been established by President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The official said discussions with Russia are ongoing, the U.S. has shared information on specific criminal actors within Russia and that the country has taken initial steps to address the issues being raised.
Addressing the opening session of the meeting on Wednesday, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the meeting shows governments of participating countries recognize the urgency of the threat of ransomware.

"We view international cooperation as foundational to our collective ability to deal with the ransomware ecosystem, to hold criminals and the states that harbor them accountable, and to reduce the threat to our citizens in each of our countries," he said.
President Joe Biden has elevated the response to cybersercurity to the most senior levels of the administration following a set of attacks this year that threatened to destabilize U.S. energy and food supplies.
Hackers caused fuel disruptions in the eastern United States in May when they targeted a pipeline run by Colonial Pipeline. Sullivan said the U.S. Department of Justice recovered more than $2 million of ransom paid to criminal actors who attacked the pipeline company.
The Biden administration hopes that their new informal group, which they are calling the Counter-Ransomware Initiative, will bolster their diplomatic push that has included direct talks with Russia as well as the NATO alliance and Group of Seven wealthy nations.

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Russia excluded from 30-country meeting to fight ransomware and cyber crime | Reuters

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Russia excluded from 30-country meeting to fight ransomware and cyber crime

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Seems logical . . . until sabang or OhWoe come along to highlight how the bad 'west' is actually a greater threat ... blah blah blah blah


Remember this?:

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Trump says discussed forming cyber security unit with PutinBy Reuters Staff
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Sunday that he discussed forming a cyber security unit to guard against election hacking with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Trump says discussed forming cyber security unit with Putin | Reuters

Trump is a dead beat. About time other countries stood up to the Slavic scum

Ukraine and Israel are experts on cybercrime. They should be able to compensate for the lack of Russian involvement.

Good!! the Russians would only be there to learn how to hack them,

It sounds like relations and discussions between Russia and the US are cordial and ongoing, which is really music to the ears of rational humanity. The fact that Russia was excluded from this meet-up is something I wouldn't make too much of. Why don't we rest our spears and arrows for a spell.:bananaman:

Make love not war!

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Originally Posted by russellsimpson

which is really music to the ears of rational humanity.

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...odd comment from one politically tone deaf...

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Originally Posted by sabang

Ukraine and Israel are experts on cybercrime.

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Ah yes, the whataboutism . . . luckily Ukraine and Israel (all six million of them) were proven to have hacked recent elections worldwide . . . it da Joos, eh! Always.

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Originally Posted by russellsimpson

The fact that Russia was excluded from this meet-up is something I wouldn't make too much of.

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The fact that Russia is excluded is because it is the #1 perpetrator of financial cybercrimes, you moron.

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Originally Posted by sabang

They should be able to compensate for the lack of Russian involvement.

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:smileylaughing:

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The fact that Russia is excluded is because it is the #1 perpetrator of financial cybercrimes, you moron.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

We are having active discussions with the Russians, but in this particular forum they were not invited to participate," the senior administration official said, adding this does not preclude Russia from participating in future events.
The official said the United States engages directly with Russia on the issue of ransomware under the US-Kremlin Experts Group, which is led by the White House and has been established by President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The official said discussions with Russia are ongoing, the U.S. has shared information on specific criminal actors within Russia and that the country has taken initial steps to address the issues being raised.

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and,

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The Biden administration hopes that their new informal group, which they are calling the Counter-Ransomware Initiative, will bolster their diplomatic push that has included direct talks with Russia as well as the NATO alliance and Group of Seven wealthy nations.

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Your 'us against them' zero sum mentality is quite tiring Harry. The article makes it clear that the Biden administration is communicating with your 'bad' Russians on other forums and in direct bi-lateral arrangements. Read the article. It is sometimes required of you, being a presumably educated individual, to read between the lines of a report and reading between the lines of this tells me things are not so bad between the Russians and Americans as you insist they are.

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Originally Posted by tomcat

...odd comment from one politically tone deaf...

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Odd comment period Tom.:shrug:

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Originally Posted by russellsimpson

and,



Your 'us against them' zero sum mentality is quite tiring Harry. The article makes it clear that the Biden administration is communicating with your 'bad' Russians on other forums and in direct bi-lateral arrangements. Read the article. It is sometimes required of you, being a presumably educated individual, to read between the lines of a report and reading between the lines of this tells me things are not so bad between the Russians and Americans as you insist they are.

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Try reading it slowly, preferably with a dictionary, you dipstick.

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The fact that Russia is excluded is because it is the #1 perpetrator of financial cybercrimes, you moron.

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That doesn't even cover about the industrial control systems attacks for which it has been responsible in the last few years.

You are out of your depth as usual.

Senior officials from 31 countries and the European Union said that their governments would take action to disrupt the cryptocurrency payment channels used by ransomware gangs to finance their operations.

The joint statement was issued following the virtual Counter-Ransomware Initiative meetings facilitated this week by the White House National Security Council in response to ongoing attacks that revealed significant vulnerabilities across critical worldwide infrastructure.

It was issued by ministers and representatives from Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, European Union, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Publicly disclosed ransomware payments have reached almost $500 million worth of cryptocurrency globally during the last two years ($400 million in 2020 and over $80 million in Q1 2021).

Mitigating the abuse of virtual assets on a global scale would impact the business model and the main instrument used by the ransomware cybercrime groups to collect ransoms from their victims and launder the funds obtained in attacks targeting organizations around the world.

The Counter-Ransomware Initiative hopes to drain their funding and take down their operations by disrupting the ransomware groups' funding channels.

"We acknowledge that uneven global implementation of the standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) creates an environment permissive to jurisdictional arbitrage by malicious actors seeking platforms to move illicit proceeds without being subject to appropriate anti-money laundering (AML) and other obligations," the officials said.

"We are dedicated to enhancing our efforts to disrupt the ransomware business model and associated money-laundering activities, including through ensuring our national AML frameworks effectively identify and mitigate risks associated with VASPs and related activities."

The efforts to disrupt ransomware groups' abuse of cryptocurrency will include regulators, financial intelligence units, and law enforcement regulating, supervising, investigating, and taking action against virtual asset exploitation.

"We will also seek out ways to cooperate with the virtual asset industry to enhance ransomware-related information sharing," the officials added.

The states behind this action will leverage their financial institutions and infrastructure to jointly fend off ransomware activity targeting international partners' critical infrastructure.

Complementary efforts will also include disrupting the ransomware ecosystem through law enforcement collaboration, improving network resilience to prevent attacks, addressing ransomware criminals' safe-havens, and diplomatic engagement to encourage other countries to address ransomware operations active within their territory.

In September, the U.S. Treasury Department announced its first-ever sanctions against a cryptocurrency exchange for facilitating ransom transactions for ransomware gangs and helping them evade sanctions.

The U.S. government has also levied sanctions against other threat actors and entities associated with ransomware gangs in recent years.

Two years ago, in 2019, the U.S. charged multiple members of the Evil Corp for stealing more than $100 million and added them to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list.

Evil Corp has been linked to multiple ransomware families over the years, including WastedLocker, Hades, Phoenix CryptoLocker, and PayLoadBin.

In October, the U.S. Treasury also warned that ransomware negotiators could face civil penalties for facilitating ransom payments if they involved ransomware gangs already on its sanctions list.

In July, Interpol urged police agencies and industry partners worldwide to fight together against the ransomware threat after G7 leaders asked Russia to crack down on ransomware gangs operating within its borders.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/new...ment-channels/

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

G7 leaders asked Russia to crack down on ransomware gangs operating within its borders.

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Bet Russia did fuck all

The meeting was what to do about the Russians.
Inviting them would be like the chickens inviting the fox into the coop.

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Originally Posted by Saint Willy

Bet Russia did fuck all

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Absolutely. But given the numbers, how long are they going to put up with it?

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

It was issued by ministers and representatives from Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, European Union, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

But given the numbers

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Calculus symbols were a struggle initially, but, .... if only 20 ish countries sign up and there are 193 UN Member countries.

Yep, 193 ÷ 20 ≈ 10% of the world's countries. (3 correct symbols) 3 extra House Points!

(Some schools utilised coloured stars, but although RED STARS signified displeasure some parents, who held a certain political philosophy, thought they indicated a good comrade.)

Or do some countries receive extra points? Because they splatter more kids, recognise more genders ....

Are you sure you have the "numbers" in the bag, I do note you have 3 African countries and India, 'arry?

Or did the majority, the unimpressed of the world, win/win again.

:kma:

What are you waffling about now?

Trying to defend the filthy, thieving Russian scum?

"Given the numbers" means the number of dollars these disgusting lowlives have stolen, you moron.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

What are you waffling about

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Dim, dim.

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Originally Posted by OhOh

Dim, dim.

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We know, but you can get help

Was China invited? I see no mention. I would've have thought including emperor xi and czar vlad might have elicited more cooperation than not. There can always be threats of future exclusion if improvement is not forthcoming.

Given the recent hacking of bank accounts in Thailand where millions of baht were stolen , How much does one want to bet that if it was ever discovered where the money went, Russians would have been involved.

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Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

Was China invited? I see no mention. I would've have thought including emperor xi and czar vlad might have elicited more cooperation than not. There can always be threats of future exclusion if improvement is not forthcoming.

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China isn't usually associated with financial cybercrime. at least not on the scale of the Russians.

Their bag is more stealing intellectual property and sensitive commercial information.

I don't know why all Russians should take the rap for a few bad apples. I find Russians to be very generous and gracious...they certainly are a people with a lot to take.

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Originally Posted by spliff

I don't know why all Russians should take the rap for a few bad apples. I find Russians to be very generous and gracious...they certainly are a people with a lot to take.

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Spliff's on a troll roll!

:rofl:

Russian-US resolution on cyberspace restores consensus in this domain — diplomat

Belousov noted US readiness to promote the text of the document on behalf of the two states

3 Nov, 10:13

UNITED NATIONS, November 3. /TASS/.

"Russia is convinced that the adoption of a General Assembly resolution on cyberspace, drafted jointly with the United States, would strengthen international peace and security in the use of information technologies, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva Andrei Belousov said.

"We are a step away from taking a historic decision and adopting a draft UNGA resolution that consolidates the reestablished atmosphere of consensus in the global discussion on international information security under the UN auspices," he told the First Committee of the UN General Assembly.

"2021 has been marked by significant diplomatic achievements in this area, in particular, the adoption of the final reports of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) and of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE)," the diplomat continued. "The global community managed to prove in practice its ability to reach agreements and to elaborate mutually acceptable solutions, when it comes to dealing with fundamental issues of national and international security."

In his words, Russia’s initiative to adopt a single resolution on international information security this year has become a logical development of the constructive and pragmatic participation of all UN member states in these discussions.

Belousov noted US readiness to promote the text of the document on behalf of the two states.

"We are also pleased to see that 104 states have already joined our initial agreement as co-sponsors," he said.

According to the diplomat, the Russian-US document is drafted in a unifying and objective manner and "actually draws a line under the ‘dual-track’ period of negotiations on ICT-security [information and communication technology] in the UN."

The resolution "lays a strategic basis for continuing the negotiation process," he continued.

"We believe that the adoption of the Russia-US draft resolution will become a meaningful contribution to strengthening international peace and security in the use of ICTs," he said. "We call on all the UN Member States to support consensus on [this] document."

Russian-US resolution on cyberspace restores consensus in this domain — diplomat - Russian Politics & Diplomacy - TASS

So they're doing fuck all about the cybercrime they are sponsoring other than saying "let's waffle about it for longer".

Can't really complain when the sanctions framework starts getting discussed by the victims of their scummy thieving.

:rofl:

Has OhWoe been appointed as the Russian-bot here as well? So, Beijing and Moscow do talk to one another . . . it seems Klongdick's lobotomy recuperation is taking some time.

I suppose one would wonder how the Russians could possibly prevent cyber crime when they appear to be completely unable to prevent opposition politicians from being "assasinated".