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Senator highlighted the need for bipartisan cooperation to enhance America’s cybersecurity and hold ransomware attackers accountable
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema spoke during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, urging bipartisan cooperation to strengthen America’s cybersecurity. Sinema highlighted last year’s ransomware attack on the City of Kingman and a recent hacking attempt against Yuma Regional Medical Center.
“Our bipartisan infrastructure law invests in state and local cybersecurity to combat ransomware and I cosponsored legislation creating new cyber incident reporting requirements. We need to continue to work together to enhance our cybersecurity and hold hackers – and the countries that provide them safe harbor – accountable,” said Sinema, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
During the hearing, Sinema asked the witnesses about the tools and factors that allow cryptocurrency to be exploited for ransomware attacks, which have wreaked havoc on communities around the country, including in Arizona. The Senator used last year’s cyber attack on the City of Kingman and the recent hacking attempt against Yuma Regional Medical Center as examples of ransomware attacks disrupting lives, breaching sensitive data, and causing harm.
In March, Sinema discussed during a Senate Banking Committee hearing with Jonathan Levin, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Chainalysis, his company’s efforts to assist law enforcement and sanctions professionals in tracking down and tracing illicit activity on the blockchain – a digital ledger that keeps a public, transparent record of cryptocurrency transactions.
Sinema partnered with Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) to launch the bipartisan U.S. Senate Financial Innovation Caucus, which aims to highlight responsible innovation in the U.S. financial system, and how financial technologies can boost America’s economic global standing and expand opportunities in Arizona and across the country. Sinema was also a cosponsor of the Cyber Incident Reporting Act, a version of which was signed into law in March. This law will require critical infrastructure operators to report cyberattacks and ransomware payments to the Department of Homeland Security, so that the government can help victims quickly recover and stop hackers from attacking other critical systems.