The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has requested a briefing to understand why the FBI decided to delay providing the victims of the Kaseya REvil ransomware with a universal decryption key for three weeks.
"Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly obtained a digital decryptor key that could have unlocked affected systems, it withheld this tool for nearly three weeks as it worked to disrupt the attack, potentially costing the ransomware victims—including schools and hospitals—millions of dollars," stated Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney in a letter to FBI Director Wray.
Last week, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray testified before Congress, saying that they withheld the decryption for almost three weeks because it was planning an operation to disrupt the Russian REvil ransomware gang. But before the FBI could act, REvil shut down operations and disappeared and its leak sites went offline overnight.