US President Joe Biden has told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country, and that the US reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure” from future attacks, the White House said on Friday.
The warning to Putin was largely a repetition of the tough rhetoric Biden used during their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, last month, when he warned that there would be consequences for continuing cyberattacks emanating from Russia.
Since then, a new ransomware attack linked to the Russia-based REvil hacking group has caused widespread disruption, placing Biden under growing pressure to this time marry the warning with actions — although none were immediately announced.
Photo: REUTERS
“I made it very clear to him that the United States expects, when a ransomware operation is coming from his soil, even though it’s not sponsored by the state, we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is,” Biden said told reporters at an event on economic competitiveness.
Asked whether there will be consequences, he said: “Yes.”
The call underscored the extent to which the ransomware threat from criminal hacker groups has mushroomed into an urgent national security challenge for the White House, and it suggested a possible concession by the Biden administration that earlier warnings to the Russian leader had failed to curb a criminal activity that has taken aim at businesses across the globe.
A White House statement announcing the hour-long call also highlighted a US-Russian agreement that would allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria.
The dual prongs of the agenda show how even as Biden pledges to “get tough” on Russia over hacking, there is desire to avoid aggravating tensions as the US looks for Russia to cooperate, or at least not interfere, with US actions in other areas, including Syria, the Afghanistan withdrawal and climate change.
Biden in the call also “emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware,” the White House said.
Biden told reporters that the US and Russia have “set up a means of communication now on a regular basis to be able to communicate with one another when each of us thinks something is happening in another country that affects the home country. And so it went well. I’m optimistic.”
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