US, Israel enter anti-ransomware partnership

The U.S. and Israel have joined forces to form a bilateral task force for cybersecurity and financial technology innovation support as part of the Biden administration's initiatives to strengthen international cooperation against ransomware attacks, reports Forbes. "Harnessing both the power of international cooperation and of technology innovation will position us to support economic competitiveness, prosperity, and to combat global threats including ransomware. As the global economy recovers and ransomware and other illicit finance threats present a grave challenge to Israel and the United States, increased information exchanges, joint work, and collaboration on policy, regulation, and enforcement are critical to our economic and national security objectives," said Treasury Department Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo. Apart from the creation of a memorandum of understanding that will cover information sharing, training and study, and competency-building activities, the task force will also release expert technical exchanges to bolster cybersecurity and anti-fraud activities in the fintech sector. "The technical exchanges will examine how cyber analytics firms, as well as fintech and regtech innovators, are developing new ways to mitigate illicit finance risk and to enhance public sector analytical and enforcement activities," said the Treasury Department.