Meat Producer’s Hack Ups Pressure to Regulate Crypto Payments

A hack of the world’s largest meat producer is ratcheting up pressure for greater regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency’s role as a preferred method for ransom payments that are difficult to trace.

The U.S. Treasury Department should ramp up its enforcement of anti-money laundering laws and adopt reporting rules for cryptocurrency transactions following the hack of meat processor JBS SA—the latest to spotlight ransomware as a national security issue, according to cybersecurity consultants, lawyers, and former government officials. Cracking down on cryptocurrency payments would make it more difficult for hackers to profit off of foreign ransomware attacks.

Heightened public awareness ...