Biden calls for measures against hacker attacks
More and more, targets in the USA and other countries are becoming the target of hacker attacks. The government in Washington sees Russia as responsible. US President Biden is on the phone with Putin – and increases the pressure.
After the recent hacker attacks in the US and other countries, US President Joe Biden has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action against the perpetrators. In a one-hour phone call with Putin on Friday, Biden addressed “ongoing ransomware attacks by criminals based in Russia,” said the White House. Russia should take action against it. The US is taking all necessary steps to protect its people and critical infrastructure.
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Revil attacks are increasing
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 previously 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 has also been the target of attacks.
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 undisturbed; on the other hand from Russian secret services to ministries, authorities and companies in the USA. You have already imposed sanctions on Russia for this reason. The Russian government denies such attacks. Putin also repeatedly complains about cyber attacks against Russian authorities.
In the telephone conversation following the Kremlin, the Russian President pointed out that despite Russia’s willingness to jointly take action against “criminal incidents in the information sphere”, there had been no inquiries from US organs in the past month. Given the severity of the challenges, both sides should work together without “politicization”. For this purpose, channels between the state structures should be used.
A high-ranking US government official contradicted the Kremlin representation. The US had submitted “several specific requests” to Russia for action against cyber criminals. Biden had previously called on Putin repeatedly to take measures against hackers – most recently at their two-person summit in Geneva in mid-June. There both had agreed to start talks about cybersecurity. Biden also warned of the consequences if the attacks spread.
Biden announces measures
When asked whether the latest attacks would have consequences, Biden replied: “Yes.” He had made it “very clear” to Putin that the US expected him to take action. The US government official said reactions from Washington can be expected in the coming days or weeks. But he will not announce in advance what measures are involved.
According to the White House, the phone call also concerned 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 praised the joint work of their teams after the summit in Geneva, which led to the unanimity. The Kremlin made a similar statement. Putin also expressed condolences after the collapse of a skyscraper in the US state of Florida. dpa
