U.S. Chamber call on government to act on cyberthreats

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling on the federal government to step up and take decisive action against the threat of cyberattacks.

Calling cyberthreats an assault on the government and the economy, the Chamber urged Congress and the rest of the federal government to use all means necessary to hold cybercriminals responsible for their crimes.

“Today, thousands of businesses will be successfully attacked by criminal gangs using ransomware. The average downtime due to an attack is 21 days, and on average, it takes a business 287 days to fully recover from an attack. Enough is enough. Businesses are outnumbered, and law enforcement doesn’t have the resources to keep up,” said Christopher D. Roberti, Senior Vice President for Cyber, Intelligence, and Supply Chain Security Policy, with the Chamber.

The chamber’s statement comes just weeks after a ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline earlier this month. That attack led to the closing down of a pipeline serving the East Coast. In response, consumers led a run on gas, creating shortages there.

Federal authorities are searching for the criminals behind the attack and working with private companies to prevent further attacks. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) held a call in mid-May with more than 8,500 participants from 16 critical economic sectors – like energy, chemical, and nuclear – and state and local representatives. Additionally, CISA released technical data from the incident last Wednesday to help other companies and infrastructure organizations prepare for similar attacks and defend themselves.

The Chamber called on the Biden administration and Congress to communicate through diplomatic and other channels that ransomware attacks, especially on critical infrastructure, are a national defense priority. The Chamber also called for the federal government to disrupt international ransomware payment systems, increase international law enforcement resources, establish an international coalition to combat ransomware, enhance capabilities for “malware detection, sandboxing and analysis, and information sharing,” and to establish a “Cyber Response and Recovery Fund” for cybercrime victims.

“It is time for the U.S. Government to act decisively against these criminal cyberattackers and stop them from operating with impunity. Cybercriminals must be put on notice that attacks on our country and economy will not be tolerated. The U.S. and allied governments must work together with the private sector to confront these challenges head-on. It is time for our government to utilize its full range of capabilities – including criminal and cyber – to take the fight to these cyber gangs.”