Tech companies, firms like Microsoft and McAfee institute the 'Ransomware Task Force'

19 security firms, tech companies, and non-profit organisation have come together to create the “Ransomware Task Force” (RTF). Companies including Microsoft and McAfee have come together to fight ransomware. 

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The RTF will assess technical solutions that are already in place, along with providing protections during an attack.

Besides monitoring the state of mechanisms in place, the RTF will commission research on the topic, engage with key players across industries, and find problems in the existing mechanism, while finding solutions to these problems.

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In addition, the RTF will also navigate across all potential solutions to carve out a roadmap to address serious issues. 

The goal is to come up with a standardised framework to deal with ransomware attacks across industries. To achieve this, the RTF intends to consult industry players, instead of individual advice usually given out by contractors.

And 19 founding members of the RTF include big shots like Microsoft, McAfee along with many groups include Team Cymru, Aspen Digital, Citrix, The Cyber Threat Alliance, Cybereason, The Cybersecurity Coalition among many.

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Ransomware is a type of malware which threatens to publish the data of its victim unless a ransom is paid. In addition, access to that data may be perpetually blocked until the ransom is paid.

Ransomware is not the most common form of malware, but still remains a major threat, with the threat of ransoms growing from quarter to quarter.

Even then, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has revealed that BEC scams continue to cause the largest financial losses to companies every year.