In a one-hour phone call with Putin on Friday, Biden addressed “ongoing ransomware attacks by criminals based in Russia,” the White House said. Russia should take action against the responsible groups.
The US is taking all necessary steps to protect its people and critical infrastructure, it said.
Most recently, last weekend, hackers attacked hundreds of companies with blackmail software (ransomware) through a vulnerability at the American IT service provider Kaseya. The REvil group, located by experts in Russia, demanded 70 million US dollars (around 59 million euros) in the digital currency Bitcoin for a master key to all affected computers.
REvil was already behind an attack on the world’s largest meat company JBS. Before JBS, it hit the operator of one of the most important gasoline pipelines in the US. Germany was already a destination.
The USA criticizes two different types of hacker attacks from Russia: on the one hand by criminals who, according to the USA, can attack targets abroad without being disturbed; on the other hand from Russian secret services to ministries, agencies and companies in the USA. It has already imposed sanctions on Russia for this reason. The Russian government denies such attacks. Putin also repeatedly complains about cyber attacks against Russian authorities.
Biden has repeatedly called on Putin to take action against hackers – most recently at their two-party summit in Geneva in mid-June. There both agreed to start talks about cybersecurity. Biden had also warned the Kremlin chief of the consequences if the attacks spread.
When asked whether the latest attacks had any consequences, Biden replied: “Yes.” He had made it “very clear” to Putin that the US expected him to take action. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said ransomware attacks had increased in at least the past 18 months.
According to the White House, the phone call also dealt with the resolution of the UN Security Council, which unanimously agreed on Friday on a compromise for the continuation of vital humanitarian aid for Syria. Biden and Putin had praised the joint work of their teams after the summit in Geneva, which led to unanimity.
