"All organisations must recognise that no company is safe from being targeted by ransomware, regardless of size or location", Neuberger said in a letter circulated by reporters on Twitter. "We urge you to take ransomware crime seriously and ensure your corporate cyber defence match the threat".
The letter comes amid an uptick in cyberattacks against the US government and private companies, including the Microsoft Exchange and SolarWinds hacks, as well as ransomware attacks on Colonial Pipeline and meat producer JBS Foods.
"The most important takeaway from the recent spate of ransomware attacks on US, Irish, German and other organizations around the world is that companies that view ransomware as a threat to their core business operations rather than a simple risk of data theft will react and recover more effectively," Neuberger said. “To understand your risk, business executives should immediately convene their leadership teams to discuss the ransomware threat and review corporate security posture and business continuity plans to ensure you have the ability to continue or quickly restore operations".
Neuberger explained in the letter that the White House is urging the companies to implement the practices outlined in the Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity Executive Order, backup data, system images and regularly test them, test incident response plans as well as check security team’s work among other recommendations.
A day prior, the FBI told Sputnik that hackers used REvil and Sodinokibi malware during a cyberattack that targeted the meat-producing giant JBS USA earlier this week.
The White House said on Tuesday it was in touch with the Russian authorities in light of the hacking attack on JBS, which led to the closure of its facilities in the United States. The US administration believes some of the members belonging to the hacker groups reside in Russia. Later, it said the ransomware attack on the JBS will be discussed at the upcoming summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.