Biden presses Putin to crack down on Russian ransomware attacks, warns U.S. will ‘take any necessary action’
following the latest ransomware attack by a Russia-linked group that compromised as many as 1,500 businesses worldwide.
In a call with Putin, Biden “underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware,” according to a White House statement.
The conversation comes as Biden has faced calls to retaliate against Russia over a ransomware attack on the software provider Kaseya, the latest in a string of breaches on U.S companies. The Russia-linked hackers known as REvil took responsibility for the attack, although U.S. intelligence officials have not publicly said who was responsible for the assault.
an attack on the nation’s largest fuel pipeline in May. The president raised the issue with Putin when the two met in Geneva last month and said he demanded the Russian president crack down on such attacks against the U.S.
At the time, Biden told reporters he gave Putin a list of 16 critical sectors that would warrant a response if attacked and that it would take six months to a year to know “whether or not we actually have a strategic dialogue that matters.”
REvil is known for extorting $11 million from meat processor JBS last month. Security researchers said its ability to evade anti-malware safeguards in this attack and its apparent exploitation of a previously unknown vulnerability on Kaseya servers reflect the growing financial muscle of REvil and a few dozen other top ransomware gangs, whose success helps them afford the best digital burglary wares. Such criminals infiltrate networks and paralyze them by scrambling data, extorting their victims.
Contributing: Associated Press. Reach Courtney Subramanian at @cmsub and Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.