JAKARTA - US President Joe Biden discussed the ransomware attack with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for nearly an hour this week. After speaking with the Russian president, he was "optimistic" about future communications between the two countries.
The discussions come days after another massive ransomware attack affected as many as 1,500 businesses worldwide, according to the affected software vendors.
"I explained to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation comes from him - even though it's not, not state sponsored, we expect him to act if we give him enough information to act on who it is," Biden told reporters.
Biden added that there would still be US consequences for such an attack, without providing details. A senior administration official said Friday, July 9, that the US would take action to respond to the latest cyberattack in "the days and weeks ahead."
"We're not going to telegram what the action will be, exactly. Some will be tangible and visible, some may not. But we expect that to happen in the next few days and weeks," the official said.
Weeks after the Geneva summit, the president expressed optimism that the two countries, whose relations have hit rock bottom in recent years, now have a clear line of communication.
"We have now set up regular means of communication to be able to communicate with each other when each of us thinks something is happening in the other country, affecting the home country, and that is going well," Biden said of his talks with Putin.
When asked what action he wants or expects from Putin to counter cyberattacks, Biden declined to answer. "It's not appropriate for me to say what I expect him to do now. But we'll see," the President told reporters.
The Kremlin said that the two presidents "wanted to emphasize the need for substantive and constructive cooperation in the cybersecurity field and the continuation of relevant contacts."
The White House said there was no indication that the Russian government was responsible for this latest ransomware attack, although hackers from the cybercrime group REvil are known to be from Russia.
REvil is believed to be based in Russia or Eastern Europe and responsible for the hacking of JBS, the world's largest meat processor, which took its facilities offline and affected meat supplies worldwide, including in the US. The group demands 70 million bitcoin payments on victims like Kaseya.
The Russian government has consistently denied responsibility for the cyberattacks. It's also about his interference in the 2016 US election to the massive SolarWinds hack that affected dozens of government ministries, private companies, and other entities around the world, including in the US.
"Despite the readiness of the Russian side to jointly suppress criminal manifestations in the information space, no appeals on this matter have been received by competent US agencies over the past month," a senior Kremlin official said Friday.
"We have submitted several specific requests for action against cybercriminals, to Russia through official channels, and explained what Russia's responsibilities are, with respect to taking action, including again today at the second presidential level," they said.
The language shows a lack of cooperation from the Russian government in this matter. The White House declined to say whether Biden received new assurances from Putin.
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