Treasury Department, Israeli Ministry of Finance form partnership to combat ransomware

Department of the Treasury and Israeli Ministry of Finance officials said a bilateral partnership has been established to combat ransomware.

© Shutterstock

The collaboration seeks to protect financial infrastructure emerging technologies while expanding global cooperation in countering ransomware threats to countries and the world economy.

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo recently met with Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Director General of the National Cyber Directorate Yigal Unna in Israel to address the partnership. A U.S.-Israeli Task Force has also been established to address Fintech Innovation and Cybersecurity.

“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,” Adeyemo said. “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.”

The Task Force would establish a Memorandum of Understanding supporting permissible information sharing related to the financial sector; formulate training and study visits promoting cooperation in cybersecurity and the financial system; and develop cybersecurity competency activities addressing global financial institutions’ financial and investment flows.