Biden discussed Russian ransomware gangs with Putin in a phone call

President Joe Biden expressed concerns about ransomware attacks carried out by Russian gangs during a phone call with President Vladimir Putin.

The recent wave of ransomware attacks carried out by Russian gangs like REvil and Darkside worries US authorities and was discussed by Presidents Biden and Putin during a phone call.

The ransomware attacks against Colonial Pipeline, JBS, and Kaseya are just the tip of the iceberg, Russian criminal gangs are targeting organizations worldwide causing billion of dollars of losses to the victims.

The US President calls to action against Russian gangs and confirmed that his government is committed to protecting its critical infrastructure and private businesses from these criminals.

“The President made clear, as I think you could see in the readout, that – he underscored the need for President Putin to take action to disrupt these ransomware groups. While REvil, we know, operates in Russia and other countries around the world, and we don’t have additional or new information suggesting the Russian government directed these attacks, we also know and we also believe that they have a responsibility.” said Jen Psaki, White House press secretary. “They have a responsibility to take action.And as you can see in the readout, the President also made clear that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure.”

Biden met Putin in Geneve in June and discussed cyber threats and the dangers of criminal syndicates operating inside Russia. Biden pointed out that Russia has a responsibility to tamp down on cybercrime originating in its country.

Biden also warned Putin that the US would reserve the right to take action if Moscow will continue to be tolerant with ransomware gangs operating from within Russia.

President Biden shared with Putin a list of 16 untouchable US critical infrastructure sectors, every attack against them carried out by these Russian gangs will be not tolerated and will trigger a severe response of the US.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Biden)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.