‘There are a lot of parallels’: FBI Director Wray compares ransomware threat to 9/11

The FBI is investigating about 100 different types of ransomware, Director Christopher Wray revealed in a new interview, in which he compared the security challenges posed by cyberthreats to the terror threat of 9/11.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday, the FBI director made the comments in the wake of two recent ransomware attacks that sent meat and gas prices skyrocketing as suppliers were left unable to move their products. “There are a lot of parallels, there’s a lot of importance, and a lot of focus by us on disruption and prevention,” Wray explained, referring to this month’s hack against JBS Foods, the world’s largest meat supplier, and the similar attack on Colonial Pipeline in May.