Reporting Attacks From Nations Selected for Oversight and Monitoring Web Attacks and Ransomware From Enemies Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this legislation by Representative Bilirakis, the RANSOMWARE Act.

H.R. 4551 amends the U.S. SAFE WEB Act, a tool the Federal Trade Commission uses to protect consumers with an international dimension, which includes increasing cooperation with foreign law enforcement.

This bill quite simply requires the FTC to report on cross-border complaints they receive involving ransomware or other cybersecurity- related incidents committed by our foreign adversaries, China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.

I am sure we all have stories from our districts. For example, a researcher recently located a host in Georgia that could possibly be connected to a Russian host with exploitation tools that are connected to ransomware.

With the increase in these attacks, I am glad to see this legislation under consideration today, which will help Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, and other law enforcement entities better understand these attacks and learn how to better combat them.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to vote in favor, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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