The U.S. Senate has approved new legislation aimed at helping government agencies and private-sector companies combat ransomware attacks. The legislation comes as local governments and schools continue to be hit by sophisticated – and in some cases coordinated – ransomware attacks. The proposed law, the “DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams Act,” authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to invest in and develop “incident response teams” to help organizations battle ransomware attacks. Part of that means that the DHS would create teams to protect state and local entities from cyber threats and restore infrastructure that has been affected by ransomware attacks. Below are comments on the move from experts with KnowBe4 and STEALTHbits Technologies.
“The best part about this legislation is not just the aid in recovery if and when an attack does happen, but the focus as well on mitigating these threats through proactive assessment and fortification of school and city technology infrastructures. With this could only come greater awareness and understanding of the threats we collectively face in organizations of every shape, size, and type.”