In a June 13 statement on goals for the G7, the Biden administration announced a coming commitment to the fight against ransomware. 

The announcement says: 

“The international community—both governments and private sector actors—must work together to ensure that critical infrastructure is resilient against this threat, that malicious cyber activity is investigated and prosecuted, that we bolster our collective cyber defenses, and that States address the criminal activity taking place within their borders.”

Ransomware has taken center stage as a policy concern since successive attacks on the Colonial Pipeline and meat producer JBS disrupted U.S. supply lines in May. As a national security concern, ransomware has become associated with Russia due to the success of Russia-based hacking groups attacking U.S. and EU infrastructure.

Many in Washington believe that these groups operate with at least the tacit sanction of the Putin administration. Consequently, ransomware and cybersecurity are expected to figure prominently in the Biden-Putin summit happening on Wednesday.

Alongside ransomware, the White House highlights international corruption and supply lines coming from the Chinese province of Xinjiang as priorities for the global community. These concerns followed the overall tone of the G7 summit in Cornwall, which featured considerable antipathy towards China as well as Russia.

So evident was this that the Chinese embassy in London responded on Monday, saying: “China’s internal affairs must not be interfered in, China’s reputation must not be slandered, and China’s interests must not be violated.”