InfoBytes Blog
FinCEN announces second exchange on ransomware
On July 15, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced it will host a “FinCEN Exchange” in August with representatives from financial institutions, other key industry stakeholders, and federal government agencies to discuss continuing concerns regarding ransomware. According to FinCEN, the exchange builds upon FinCEN’s November 2020 event regarding ransomware and “will assist its government and private sector partners to inform next steps to address ransomware and focus resources to mitigate the threat.” FinCEN also notes that ransomware attacks are a growing concern and efforts to detect and report ransomware payments are “vital to prevent and deter ransomware attacks.” Recent efforts by FinCEN to do just that include issuing two advisories in October 2020 to aid U.S. individuals and businesses in combating ransomware scams and attacks (covered by InfoBytes here) and issuing the first government-wide priorities for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism policy pursuant to the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 in June (covered by InfoBytes here).