Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told reporters that the sanctions would be imposed on Suex, a cryptocurrency transferring service that’s registered in the Czech Republic. He said Suex had “facilitated transactions involving illicit proceeds for at least eight ransomware variants.”
He said “exchanges like Suex are critical to attackers’ ability to extract profits,” pointing out that this was the first such action by the Office of Foreign Assets Control against a virtual currency exchange.
Both Adeyemo and Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger, who also briefed reporters in a conference call on Monday evening, underscored the importance of ransomware victims coming forward and vulnerable businesses and organizations taking steps to bolster their security.
Adeyemo announced new Treasury Department guidance that makes “an express statement that the U.S. government strongly discourages the payment of cyber ransoms or extortion demands.”
Neuberger likened companies armoring themselves against cybercrime to motorists and homeowners buying insurance.
“It incentivizes us to drive more safely,” she said. “You get a number of moving violations, your insurance goes up. Get into accidents, it goes up. Similarly, when you look at our home insurance, in order to get home insurance you have to have a smoke detector or have an alarm system.”
“When we look at cybersecurity, what we’re grappling with is what seems to be the lack of incentives for companies to make the investment to modernize their defenses to meet this threat,” Neuberger said.
The actions amount to another foray by the administration after ransomware attacks earlier this year disabled the meat giant JBS SA, which eventually paid an $11 million ransom, paralyzed Colonial Pipeline Co.’s flow of gasoline on the U.S. East Coast and imperiled health care providers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Since its inception in 2018 as a venue for transferring digital currency and turning it into cash, Suex has moved hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit digital coins, including more than $160 million in Bitcoin alone, according to the cryptocurrency research firm, Chainalysis.
Suex’s addition to the Treasury Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List prohibits Americans from doing business with it.