Ransomware attacks have become increasingly common and, according to the NSA Director, areprojected to continue growing in prevalence.1 Amidst the rise in ransomware attacks, last week theUnited States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced two cybersecurity-related enforcementinitiatives: the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative. Theinitiatives aim to bolster the DOJ's capabilities to investigate and prosecute cybercrimes such asransomware attacks and to enforce cybersecurity requirements aimed at mitigating the risk of suchattacks.

National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team

The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) will investigate and prosecute criminal use ofcryptocurrency. The team will focus on criminal activity by cryptocurrency platform providers and moneylaundering infrastructure providers, as well as crimes using cryptocurrency platforms - such asransomware demands and dark web market exchanges of illegal drugs, weapons, and hacking tools.Prosecutors from the DOJ's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and ComputerCrime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), and Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs) on detail from USAttorneys' Offices throughout the country will comprise the initial NCET. The head of the NCET willreport to the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division.

The NCET will also seek to track and recover ransomware payments and assets otherwise lost to fraudand extortion. The DOJ has recognized cryptocurrency as the primary means by which ransomwarepayments are collected.2 In October 2020, the DOJ released a Cryptocurrency EnforcementFramework that will be used and augmented by the NCET.3 In June 2021, the DOJ announced aRansomware and Digital Extortion Task Force to coordinate and focus its ransomware investigationand prosecutorial capabilities, and to identify and mitigate the root causes of ransomware attacks. TheNCET initiative is yet another component of the DOJ's efforts to combat ransomware, digital extortion,and other criminal activity that may be facilitated by cryptocurrency platforms. These initiatives arefurther supplemented by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)September 21, 2021 updated ransomware advisory. The advisory highlights the sanctions riskscompanies may face for making or facilitating ransomware payments related to malicious cyber-enabledactivities. For more information, see Jenner & Block's recent article on the OFAC RansomwareGuidance.

In addition to carrying out investigative and prosecutorial tasks, the NCET will also seek to cultivaterelationships with federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies that investigate andprosecute cryptocurrency cases; will provide training and advice to federal prosecutors and lawenforcement agencies on matters such as search and seizure, restraining orders, forfeiture allegations,and indictments, as they pertain to cryptocurrency crimes; facilitate information- and evidence-sharingbetween law enforcement offices; and consider ways in which to collaborate with private sector actorsthat have cryptocurrency expertise.

Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative

The Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative, announced the same day as the NCET, will attempt to use the civilFalse Claims Act to penalize government contractors for failure to comply with cybersecurity mandates.The initiative seeks to enhance accountability for "knowingly providing deficient cybersecurity productsor services, knowingly misrepresenting. . . cybersecurity practices or protocols, or knowingly violatingobligations to monitor and report cybersecurity incidents and breaches."4 For more information, seeJenner and Block's recent client alert on the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative.

Multiple ongoing policy efforts, within both the executive and legislative branches, seek to definecybersecurity reporting requirements for government contractors. The May 12, 2021 Executive Orderon Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity (see Jenner & Block's client alert on the Executive Order)initiated the development of cybersecurity monitoring and incident reporting requirements for allproviders of information technology and operational technology services to the federal government.The Executive Order established a requirement for information and communication technology serviceproviders that have contracted with federal agencies to promptly report cyber incidents to thoseagencies and to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).5 The Executive Orderalso directed updates to contract requirements and language in the Federal Acquisition Regulation(FAR) and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to facilitate cybersecurityinformation collection and reporting.6

In July, the Cyber Incident Notification Act of 2021 was introduced in the United States Senate (seeJenner & Block's client alert on the proposed legislation). The bill proposes cyber intrusion reportingrequirements applicable to federal contractors, owners or operators of critical infrastructure,nongovernmental entities providing cybersecurity incident response services, and potentially additionalcovered entities defined by CISA. The Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative seeks to equip the DOJ withcapabilities to enforce these cybersecurity reporting requirements.

Jenner & Block will continue to monitor the development of the National Cryptocurrency EnforcementTeam and Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative.

Footnotes

1 See, e.g., Maggie Miller, NSA director expects to be facing ransomware attacks 'every single day' in five years, TheHill (Oct. 5, 2021), https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/575386-nsa-director-expects-to-be-facing-ransomware-attacks-every-single-day-in (noting the NSA Director's prediction that ransomware attacks will not diminish in frequencyin the next five years, while noting the view of the Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technologythat the US will face fewer ransomware attacks in five years).

2 See, e.g., Press Release, Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco Announces NationalCryptocurrency Enforcement Team (Oct. 6, 2021), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/deputy-attorney-general-lisa-o-monaco-announces-national-cryptocurrency-enforcement-team.

3 DOJ Office of the Deputy Attorney General, Cyber-Digital Task Force, Report of the Attorney General's Cyber DigitalTask Force: Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework 6 (Oct. 8, 2020), https://www.justice.gov/archives/ag/page/file/1326061/download.

4 Press Release, Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco Announces New Civil Cyber-FraudInitiative (Oct. 6, 2021), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/deputy-attorney-general-lisa-o-monaco-announces-new-civil-cyber-fraud-initiative.

5 White House, Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity, § 2(f) (May 12, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/12/executive-order-on-improving-the-nations-cybersecurity/.

6 Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity, § 2.

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