Cyberdefense Enters a Dangerous New Phase

For the first time in five years, the initiative’s annual gathering was not held in Washington, and U.S. representation was noticeably lacking.

In October 2025, representatives from dozens of countries gathered in Singapore for the annual meeting of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI). Founded by the United States in 2021, the global collective is aimed at combating ransomware, an increasingly prevalent type of cyberattack in which hackers lock victims out of their computer systems unless they agree to pay a hefty sum. It has since grown to include 74 member states and organizations.

In October 2025, representatives from dozens of countries gathered in Singapore for the annual meeting of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI). Founded by the United States in 2021, the global collective is aimed at combating ransomware, an increasingly prevalent type of cyberattack in which hackers lock victims out of their computer systems unless they agree to pay a hefty sum. It has since grown to include 74 member states and organizations.

For the first time in five years, the initiative’s annual gathering was not held in Washington, and U.S. representation was noticeably lacking.

“Traditionally, we have a huge contingent from the U.S.,” David Koh, the head of Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency, told an audience at a cybersecurity conference in Washington a few weeks later, sitting onstage with his counterparts from Australia and Japan. “This year was different because almost no one from the U.S. administration came.”

The Biden administration made multilateral cyber-engagement one of its key policy priorities, appointing the United States’ first-ever ambassador-at-large for cyberspace and digital policy to head a new State Department bureau focused on international cyber- and technology cooperation. It supplemented its leadership of the CRI with a multilateral pledge to curb the misuse of commercial spyware, put forward an international cyberspace and digital strategy, and oversaw a significant expansion of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), tasked with defending the United States from cyberthreats. But widespread cuts to the U.S. government workforce under President Donald Trump over the past year have impacted nearly all of those efforts.

In explaining why that matters, Koh did not mince words. “You can’t look people in the eye if you’re not showing up,” he said. “My concern is that if we don’t do enough of it, then someone else will take the narrative.”

“The U.S. plays a unique role because of the global space we operate on across law enforcement, diplomatic, cyberdefense, and intelligence.”

That someone el