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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

FinCEN hosts second ransomware exchange

Financial Crimes FinCEN Ransomware Of Interest to Non-US Persons Anti-Money Laundering Combating the Financing of Terrorism

Financial Crimes

On August 10, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) held a virtual “FinCEN Exchange” with representatives from financial institutions, other key industry stakeholders, and federal government agencies to discuss continuing concerns regarding ransomware. As previously covered by InfoBytes, in July, FinCEN announced the event, which builds upon FinCEN’s November 2020 event regarding ransomware. Topics discussed at the FinCEN Exchange included “cybercrime, trends and typologies, detection and reporting, and the recovery of funds after ransomware attacks.” FinCEN’s recent efforts against ransomware attacks include: (i) issuing an advisory in October 2020 to aid U.S. individuals and businesses in combating ransomware scams and attacks (covered by InfoBytes here); and (ii) highlighting ransomware in June as a particularly acute cybercrime concern in its issuance of the first government-wide priorities for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism policy. According to FinCEN, the agency will host a “ransomware technical workshop to discuss ways to establish an enhanced and more effective way to communicate, monitor, and receive information related to the use of cryptocurrency connected to a ransomware incident.”