[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 130 (Monday, July 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S5061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Ransomware

  Madam President, on another issue, a committee we both serve on, the 
Senate Judiciary Committee, is going to have an important hearing 
tomorrow on the issue of ransomware.
  For those who may be unfamiliar, ransomware is a type of malicious 
software that can infect a computer. If hackers attack your computer 
system with it, they can lock up all the data in your system and demand 
a ransom payment in exchange for unlocking the data. As a product of 
our digital age, ransomware is a relatively new threat, but it could 
impact any individual, business, or organization.
  Many Americans had a rude awakening about this threat earlier this 
year, when a cyber crime syndicate used ransomware to shut down the 
largest petroleum pipeline in the United States: the Colonial Pipeline. 
That shutdown sparked a nationwide panic that had people lining up at 
gas stations for hours, and it put the threat of ransomware into plain 
view for all Americans. Perhaps someone you know has had their world 
turned upside down by a ransomware attack. Tomorrow, we will discuss it 
at length.