JAKARTA - The United States government has promised to pay up to 10 million US dollars (144 billion rupiah) for information on criminal activity through computer networks against critical infrastructure in the country.
Cybercriminals often take advantage of security holes to control computer systems. They then demand large amounts of ransom, often millions of dollars, to return control of the system to their owners. This is known as the ransom. The US government believes these criminals are carrying out their business without fear of arrest in Russia and several other countries.
Sometimes the US government is the target of cyberattacks, but other times, private companies important to the US economy are also victims.
For example, an attack earlier this year on the Colonial Pipeline disrupted the work and travel of oil and gas flows for about a week in the eastern US. Criminal groups use software known as ransomware to take control of pipelined computer systems. They later relinquished control of the computer systems that were held hostage after being paid more than US$4 million (most of the money was later recovered by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
REvil, another Russia-based criminal group, launched a ransomware attack on July 2 against more than 1,000 organizations and businesses worldwide. After the group disappeared, an administration official in the US, did not say if it was their side that made the group leave. A Russian official said he did not know about the group.
Some cybercrime experts think REvil may have disappeared to avoid US officials. President Joe Biden's administration is now starting to educate businesses and individuals on how to keep their computer systems safe through a new website called stopransomware.gov. The US Treasury said it would work with banks and technology companies to avoid falling victim to ransomware attacks.
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