"Our current posture is woefully insufficient given the threat we see today," a senior administration official told reporters.

The campaign compromised at least 13 companies.

The idea involves a mix of government goodies in exchange for vital infrastructure owners meeting cybersecurity standards.

The law would apply to federal contractors, critical infrastructure owners and cyber incident response firms.

FireEye is involved in the incident response, a spokesperson said.

The breach of Colonial Pipeline’s IT systems has thrust the issue of ransomware payments into the national limelight.