US to raise cyberattacks with Russia
June 2, 2021
US President Joe Biden is ″looking closely″ at reports Russian hackers were to blame for ransomware attacks on businesses in the United States, the White House said on Wednesday.
Biden will discuss the issue of Russia harboring ransomware hackers with President Vladimir Putin this month following an attack on a major meat processing firm this week.
"The president has launched a rapid strategic review to address the increased threat of ransomware to include four major lines of effort," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
What happened?
A ransomware attack on the US office of Brazilian meat processing giant JBS has become the third such hack since Biden came into office in January.
JBS informed the White House the attack seemed to have come from cyber criminals based in Russia.
"President Biden certainly thinks that President Putin and the Russian government has a role to play in stopping and preventing these attacks," Psaki said.
The attack prompted JBS, which holds 20% of the US cattle and hog slaughtering business, to temporarily freeze operations in the US.
With workers returning on Wednesday, JBS, the world′s largest meat processing firm, said on Tuesday night it had made "significant progress in resolving the cyberattack."
The latest incident follows a cyberattack on the largest fuel pipeline in the US, the Colonial Pipeline. The attack by a hacking group with ties to Russia ended up crippling fuel deliveries in several US states.
What comes next?
The US president will discuss ransomware with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at a summit on June 16 in Geneva.
Biden will also be raising differences of opinion on election interference, human rights and Ukraine.
"We do expect this to be one of the issues that the President will discuss with President Putin at the summit," confirmed Psaki of the hacker attacks.
"We're not taking any options off the table in terms of how we may respond, but of course there's an internal policy review process to consider that, we're in direct touch with the Russians, as well, to convey our concerns about these reports," she added.
A Russian cyber gang called REvil is believed to be behind the JBS hack, according to a Reuters news agency source.
jc/rs (Reuters, AFP, Interfax)