US hopes to leverage UN cybercrime treaty toward ransomware fight

Proposed measures would allow law enforcement in one country could gain access to electronic evidence stored in another

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The Biden administration will back a controversial United Nations cybercrime treaty, which has come under fire by certain US legislators and digital rights advocates who are concerned the international agreement will expose political dissidents and other groups to abuse by authoritarian regimes.

The treaty, originally proposed by Russia, calls for international cooperation to investigate serious cybercrimes. For example, law enforcement in one country could gain access to electronic evidence stored in another country. The Biden administration agreed to back the treaty after extensive outreach from non-government organizations, human rights advocates, technology firms and other stakeholders, senior administration officials said in a briefing Sunday.

International cooperation has been covered by the Budapest Convention, however neither Russia or China were part of that agreement. After extensive deliberation, U.S. officials still see the U.N. Cybercrime Convention as an agreement that could help make progress in the global fight against ransomware and other illicit activity.

While the administration understands the many concerns stakeholders raised, officials decided to remain with the consensus view for several reasons, a senior official told reporters during the briefing. 

“First, we believe that this UN convention has the potential to make some improvements in international law enforcement cooperation to fight cybercrime,” the senior official said. 

The Biden administration has reached out to several foreign governments in recent months, and found widespread support to back the agreement, particularly among close allies.

Sen. Ron Wyden and other members of the US Senate wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top administration officials in late October calling for the administration to not allow the UN treaty to be abused by Russia, China and other authoritarian regimes for domestic surveillance and censorship.

But, authorities said the best way for the US to influence how an agreement is implemented would be for officials to remain inside the fold, thereby providing the ability to address concerns about potential abuse by certain governments. Among the concerns expressed would be how Russia and China might use the treaty to crack down on political expression and other rights issues. 

The Biden administration has worked extensively to develop international support to crack down on cybercrime, particularly how certain countries have allowed criminal ransomware groups to operate out of their countries. 

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