In one long weekend in May 2023, a cybercriminal gang called Clop conducted one of the largest data breaches on record. It exploited a zero-day vulnerability in enterprise managed file transfer software. The supply-chain attack affected thousands of organizations and millions of people. In an effort to extort victims, Clop published terabytes of data, including health care data, highly personal records and corporate data, on the internet. Some victims paid millions of dollars in ransoms to stop the data from being released.

CLOP’s attack epitomizes the challenges faced by nations fighting well-organized, professional cybercriminal gangs generating billions of dollars a year in profit. Cybercrime has become a tax for the price of using IT systems, and it shouldn’t be. It has prompted countries to work closer than ever these days to impact cybercriminal groups. But will Clop, whose members are likely in Russia or Eastern Europe, be held to account?