JAKARTA – A 31-year-old Ottawa man has been arrested on suspicion of assault ransomware in the United States and Canada after a joint investigation of the two countries that took nearly two years, police said Tuesday, December 7.

According to the Ontario Provincial Police, quoted ReutersMatthew Philbert is in charge of various attacks ransomware affecting businesses, government agencies and private individuals across Canada and cyber-related offences in the United States,

Philbert was detained following a 23-month joint investigation between Canadian police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which contacted Canada in early 2020 for assistance with the attack. ransomware. Philbert has been charged with fraud, damage and unauthorized access of computer systems.

In Anchorage, the US attorney’s office said Philbert tampered with computers in Alaska in April 2018. He faces one charge of conspiracy by the US for fraud and one count of fraud.

Canada’s signal intelligence agency said Monday that the attack ransomware global increase 151% in the first half of 2021 compared to 2020.

In recent years, the US has also struggled ransomware more seriously. They even hunt down the culprit ransomware to Russia.

The US President, Joe Biden, even lobbied Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to take the same action and turn over the perpetrators ransomware presumed to be from that country.

But Biden’s request did not get the response Putin deserved. There is even an impression that Russia is protecting its citizens who carry out the attacks ransomware to a number of important companies in the US.

This condition is different from Canada which immediately welcomes cooperation with the US to arrest the perpetrators ransomware as did Philbert.