Biden urges Putin to take action against ransomware attacks, hinting at retaliation Reuters

Authors: Steve Holland and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-US President Joe Biden put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to take action against ransomware organizations operating in Russia and warned that if cyber hacking attacks are not stopped, the US is prepared Respond.

The two leaders held their first phone call since the ransomware attack was discussed at the summit in Geneva on June 16. Biden’s message to Putin during the call was direct, showing that people are becoming more and more impatient with attacks that undermine key US agencies.

“I made it clear to him that the United States hopes that when the ransomware operation comes from his territory, even if it is not sponsored by the state, we also want them to take action if we provide them with enough information to determine who it is,” Bye Deng told reporters.

He said that the two governments have now established a way of regular communication, “when each of us thinks that something is happening in another country that affects our country.”

“So everything goes well. I am optimistic,” he said.

The United States has not yet indicated how it plans to respond to attacks from Russia. When asked whether Russia’s inaction would have consequences, Biden said: “Yes.”

“We will not accurately convey the specific content of these actions-some of them will be obvious, some may not-but we expect these to happen in the coming days and weeks, you know,” the Biden administration’s A senior official told reporters.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software that hackers use to hijack data in exchange for payment. It has become an increasingly powerful scourge for global companies. Cybercriminals used it to paralyze thousands of American organizations, triggering a series of increasingly high-profile crises.

U.S. officials and cybersecurity researchers claim that many ransomware attacks are carried out outside Russia, even without the approval of the local government.

Biden hinted that if Russia does not cooperate, it will carry out digital retaliation. When a Reuters reporter asked whether it made sense to attack Russian servers used for such intrusions, Biden replied “yes.”

Moscow and Washington disagree on whether the United States officially seeks Russian assistance to curb ransomware attacks.

A statement from the Kremlin stated that Putin pointed out to Biden that although Russia is ready to jointly stop crimes in the information field, Russia “has not received any request from the relevant US authorities in the last month.”

Senior officials in the Biden administration raised objections to this statement and told reporters on the conference call that the United States had made a number of requests to Russia through normal diplomatic channels.

Internet crime has plagued US-Russian relations since the 1990s, when US cyber experts first began to complain about spam from Russia. But the destructive power of ransomware takes the problem to a new level.

In May, cybercriminals purportedly operating in Russia froze the operations of the key fuel transportation group Colonial Pipeline, triggering gasoline shortages, price spikes and panic purchases on the East Coast of the United States.

The following month, another organization associated with Russia attacked meat processor JBS, temporarily interrupting its food supply chain. Last week, the same hackers claimed responsibility for a large-scale ransomware outbreak centered on Florida IT company Kaseya.