Joe Biden urged Vladimir Putin to take action against Russian ransomware attacks

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, asked his Russian counterpart this Friday, Vladimir Putin, to “take measures” to stop those who launch cyber attacks with “ransomware” of Russia and reaffirmed that it can respond to such activities.

Biden also said the United States would take “Any action necessary” to defend Americans and key infrastructure threatened by cyber attacks, according to a White House statement.

Biden relayed this message to Putin during a phone call between the two which lasted about an hour, reported the White House.

Wednesday, Biden has met with his national security team to study a response to cyber attacks like this weekend against US firm Kaseya., which has reached more than 1,500 companies around the world.

Kaseya es a software company based in Miami (Florida), which provides services to more than 40,000 organizations around the world, although Biden said on Tuesday that the damage to American businesses was “minimum”.

The REvil group, of Russian origin and which the experts designate as responsible, asked for a reward of 70 million dollars to allow the companies concerned to resume their activities.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that REvil “operates from Russia with subsidiaries around the world“, And pointed out that the United States was”Sure“In his conversations with the Russian government, which he accuses of not responding forcefully to cyberattacks against his companies.

“If the Russian government is unable or unwilling to take action against criminal actors residing in Russia, we will, or at least we reserve the right to take action on our own.”warned the spokesperson.

However, Psaki later pointed out that, As of yet, the United States has no evidence that “the Russian government directed the attacks” on Kaseya.

Kaseya’s cyberattack came after the suffered in recent months in the United States as Colonial, the country’s largest pipeline system, and JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, who were victims of similar operations by hackers.

Spokesperson He did not wish to give any details on the possible response of the United States, ensuring that he did not want to “give clues” to his retaliation.

At your call, Biden and Putin also commented on the decision of the UN Security Council, which on Friday agreed to expand Turkey’s humanitarian aid delivery to northern Syria., on which millions of civilians who live in the last opposition stronghold depend.

The two presidents attributed this advance to the “joint work of their respective teams” after the summit that the two leaders held in Geneva on June 16, the White House said.

With information from AFP and EFE

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