Together with representatives from the 50 CRI Members (48 states, Interpol, EU) Austria participated in the third Summit of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI) that took place in Washington, DC from October 31- November 1, 2023. The CRI aims at building collective resilience to ransomware, cooperating to undercut the viability of ransomware and pursue the actors responsible. The 2023 Summit particularly focused on developing capabilities to disrupt attackers and the infrastructure they use to conduct their attacks, improving cybersecurity through sharing information, and fighting back against ransomware actors.

At the Summit, the Director of the Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service Andreas Holzer presented a success story of cooperation in the fight against ransomware attacks between the Austrian Cybercrime Competence Center (C4) and the Japanese National Police Agency in March 2023.

The participation of high-ranking U.S. representatives at the CRI Summit sent out a strong political message and underlined the importance that the U.S. attaches to the global fight against ransomware. CRI members endorsed the first-ever joint CRI policy statement discouraging anyone from paying a ransomware demand, and declaring their intention to lead by example in this.