The US Treasury Department said on Sunday it will partner with Israel to combat ransomware, with the two countries launching a joint task force to address cybersecurity.

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The task force will develop a memorandum of understanding supporting information sharing related to the financial sector, including cybersecurity regulations and threat intelligence, the US Treasury Department said.

The announcement follows a virtual meeting on ransomware held at the White House in October with the European Union and more than 30 countries, including Israel.

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo asked then for international cooperation to address the abuse of virtual currency and disrupt the ransomware business model.

Adeyemo met with Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Director-General of the National Cyber Directorate Yigal Unna, Central Bank Governor Amir Yaron, as well as local fintech and cybersecurity entrepreneurs in Israel on Sunday to establish a bilateral partnership, the department said in a statement.

The partnership follows measures taken to combat a surge in ransomware that has struck several big US companies, including an attack on the largest fuel pipeline in the United States that crippled fuel delivery for several days. A broader US-Israeli task force was also launched on Sunday to "support fintech innovation that features robust cybersecurity protections and that can advance compliance with international standards on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and countering the financing of proliferation."

These technical exchanges, according to the US Treasury, "will examine how cyber analytics firms, as well as fintech and regtech innovators, are developing new ways to mitigate illicit finance risk and to enhance public sector analytical and enforcement activities."

In that spirit, the US Treasury also said it will participate in the CyberTech Global Tel Aviv conference in Israel in January 2022.

"Harnessing both the power of international cooperation and of technology innovation will position us to support economic competitiveness, prosperity, and to combat global threats including ransomware," said Adeyemo.

"As the global economy recovers and ransomware and other illicit finance threats present a grave challenge to Israel and the United States, increased information exchanges, joint work, and collaboration on policy, regulation, and enforcement are critical to our economic and national security objectives," he added.

A US Treasury Department report in October found that the rise of digital currencies and a decline in the use of the dollar by US adversaries mean that the US needs to take a more multilateral approach to sanctions policy.

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Earlier this month, the US Justice Department charged a Ukraine national and a Russian in one of the worst ransomware attacks against American targets.

Less than two weeks ago, the US blacklisted NSO Group – the maker of Pegasus spyware – and another Israeli company for developing spyware, banning it from receiving exports from American companies.

NSO said at the time it was dismayed "given that our technologies support US national security interests and policies by preventing terrorism and crime."

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Iranian hackers reportedly broke into the computer system of clothing retailer H&M Israel and are threatening to release customer data, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

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An Iranian hacker group identified as "N3tw0rm" has warned that it could release 110 gigabytes of data belonging to H&M Israel unless its demands, which have not been publicly specified, are met.

Several other Israeli companies have recently been targeted in similar cyberattacks.

In December, Iranian hackers claimed to have carried out a cyberattack against Israel Aerospace Industries.

That cyber group, known as Pay2Key, published on its website a list of users of company Elta Systems as proof for breaching its system.

According to Kan 11 News, the attackers boasted about their alleged success on the dark web, coyly alluding to their ability to encroach any cyber defense.

Cyber researcher Jackie Eltal estimated that if the hackers gained access to users' information, they probably hold onto more sensitive information from Elta Systems' database, Kan reported.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Iranian hackers were behind the Pay2Key ransomware attack on dozens of Israeli companies last week, according to the Israeli cyber security firm Check Point, which worked with the Israeli blockchain intelligence firm Whitestream to discover the source of the attack.

From each of the companies that fell prey to the ransomware attack, the hackers demanded payment of seven to nine bitcoins, worth some 375,000-475,000 shekels ($111,000-$141,000).

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Check Point reported that after four of the firms decided to pay the ransom to release their data, it tracked the bitcoin transactions carried out by the hackers and identified them as Iranian.

The tracing process began with the addresses of the bitcoin wallets to which the victims were instructed to send their ransom payments. Eventually, the transactions wound up in wallets belonging to Excoino, an Iranian entity that supplies secure business services in cryptocurrency.

Excoino only works with Iranian citizens. To sign up for the service, a potential user must have a valid Iranian phone number as well as an Iranian identity number. The service also demands a copy of the account holder's ID, as well, all of which led Check Point to the conclusion that the hackers were Iranians.

Check Point explained that this latest attack used the "double extortion" method on its victims, a new development in ransomware attacks. In the double extortion model, hackers not only encode a company's data, blocking access to it, they also threaten to steal data and leak it if their demands for payment are not met.

To show what can happen when companies do not comply with their demands, the operators of the Pay2Key scam created a dedicated website on which they post content stolen from companies who refused to pay them. These include three Israeli companies.

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