If you can’t stop the criminals, close off their means to profitability. It’s a familiar tactic and now the Biden administration is preparing an array of actions, including sanctions, to make it harder for hackers to use digital currency to profit from ransomware attacks, The Wall Street Journal reports. That means going after the digital wallets that receive ransom transactions, the crypto platforms that help exchange one set of blockchain coins for another to obscure the culprits and the people who own or manage those operations.

The Fight Against Ransomware
Hit them where it hurts: The government hopes to choke off access to cryptocurrency in certain situations in a bid to limit the potential payoff from ransomware, according to people familiar with the matter. The Treasury Department plans to impose sanctions as soon as this week, the people said, and will issue fresh guidance to businesses on the risks associated with facilitating ransomware payments, including fines and other penalties.

Later this year, expected new anti-money-laundering and terror-finance rules will seek to limit the use of cryptocurrency as a payment mechanism in ransomware attacks and other illicit activities. The actions collectively would represent the most significant attempt yet by the Biden administration to undercut the digital finance ecosystem of traders, exchanges and other elements that cybersecurity experts say has allowed debilitating ransomware attacks to flourish.