ABU DHABI, 3rd November, 2022 (WAM) — The UAE, represented by the UAE Cybersecurity Council, participated in the proceedings of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative 2022 (CRI), which was held under the auspices of the US White House and attended by Kamala Harris, US Vice President, on October 31 and November 1 in Washington, DC, with the participation of 37 international bodies from the public and private sectors to discuss ways to confront the spread and impact of ransomware.

Within the Initiative’s subcommittees, the UAE Cybersecurity Council contributed to the creation of a data-sharing platform between member states to facilitate information sharing and proactive readiness for ransomware-related cyber threats.

US Vice President Kamala Harris underlined that ransomware affects thousands of companies and individuals every year. She noted that this Initiative, which is sponsored by the US administration, brought together these partners to study the phenomenon and discuss ways to confront it. She stressed the importance of collective action in order to improve cybersecurity of countries and protect citizens and businesses alike.

The Initiative seeks to hold ransomware actors accountable for their crimes, not provide them a safe haven, and combat ransomware actors’ ability to profit from illicit proceeds by implementing and enforcing anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures, including “know your customer” (KYC) rules for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers.

The Initiative also aims to disrupt and bring to justice ransomware actors and their enablers, collaborate in disrupting ransomware by sharing information, where appropriate, and prevent the misuse of infrastructure to launch ransomware attacks to ensure national cyber infrastructure is not used in ransomware attacks.

Participants in the Initiative re-affirmed their joint commitment to building collective resilience to ransomware and cooperating to disrupt ransomware and pursue the actors responsible. They also emphasised collective action to counter illicit finance that underpins the ransomware ecosystem, working with the private sector to defend against ransomware attacks, and continuing to cooperate internationally across all elements of the ransomware threat.

Dr. Mohammed Hamad Al-Kuwaiti, Head of the UAE Cybersecurity Council, said that the UAE’s participation in the Initiative’s work came within the framework of the UAE commitment to cybersecurity and to achieving the highest levels of cyber protection for citizens and partners as a national security issue.

Dr. Al-Kuwaiti added that the increasing use of cloud services, digital transformation, and the increase in cyberattacks and challenges require the cooperation of everyone to provide a safe environment, counter increasing risks, both existing and expected, and raise the efficiency of protection and monitoring systems in a way that contributes to confronting ransomware and other cyber violations.

Dr. Al-Kuwaiti praised the efforts of the US administration in sponsoring this Initiative. He added that the UAE, as a leading country in cybersecurity globally, will continue to work collectively with other partners to contribute to everything that achieves leadership and improve cybersecurity capabilities to meet all challenges, including ransomware. He said that the UAE Cybersecurity Council continues to work through several initiatives to make cybersecurity a common societal culture.

It is worth mentioning that the International Counter Ransomware Initiative 2022 (CRI) includes, in addition to the UAE and USA, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Ukraine, and the European Union.