FBI director draws ‘parallels’ between ransomware attacks and 9/11

FBI Director Christopher Wray is compared the increasing ransomware hacks on critical U.S. companies to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“There are a lot of parallels, there’s a lot of importance, and a lot of focus by us on disruption and prevention,” Wray told The Wall Street Journal in an article published Friday. “There’s a shared responsibility, not just across government agencies but across the private sector and even the average American.”

Wray told the Journal that his agency is investigating around 100 types of ransomware, pointing to Russia as the origin for many of the attacks.

Wray’s comments came in the wake of multiple high-profile ransomware attacks, including one earlier this week on JBS USA, the largest supplier of beef in the nation, which forced all its U.S. facilities to shut down for a day.