The White House says it wants ransomware attacks to be treated as a national security threat.
The announcement comes in response to this week's ransomware attack on the United States' largest meat supplier and last month's attack on the Colonial Pipeline.
The administration would reportedly consider using intelligence agencies to spy on foreign criminals and to launch offensive cyber attacks on Russian hackers.
The justice department has also announced that it is now using the same protocols for anti-ransomware efforts that it uses for terrorism.
President Biden is expected to bring up ransomware attacks when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month.
