United States President Joe Biden recently released a thinly-veiled threat towards Russian leaders on Tuesday after an alleged ransomware attack from their territory caused minimal damage to the country.
American authorities have determined that the Russian-based group REvil was responsible for the attack during the Fourth of July weekend. Officials recorded the ransomware crime as the largest cyberattack in world history. Thousands of businesses were affected by the attack where the gang demanded $70 million in cryptocurrency before they unlocked the affected systems.
However, despite the effect of the attack, the Biden administration has been urging companies to not pay the criminals' demands.
Biden's Threat to Putin
The majority of the companies that were targeted were conducting IT work for other establishments. The ransomware attack caused a ripple effect worldwide, with hundreds of supermarkets in Europe being forced to close down.
Weeks after Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin about controlling the surging cybercriminal groups that operate within his territory, the Democrat was questioned about the Miami-based Kaseya attack. The U.S. leader said the attack only caused minimal damage to American businesses.
Last month, Biden and Putin discussed the issue in a closed-door summit in Geneva, Switzerland. The Democrat said he warned the Russian leader about the potential consequences that could result if he allowed the ransomware attacks to continue.
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Biden specifically noted how he asked the Russian what he would feel if his country's oil fields were attacked by cyber attacks. On Tuesday, he repeated that warning as a thinly-veiled threat to Putin's administration, Yahoo News reported.
During a daily press briefing, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said officials have not yet fully determined if the ransomware attack was conducted within Russia. However, she noted that talks with Russian authorities were ongoing to identify where the criminals were based.
Psaki said Biden would gather key leaders across the interagency, including the State Department, Department of Justice, DHS and other intelligence community members, to discuss the issue surrounding ransomware attacks. The Democrat would talk about potential strategic efforts on how to counter the crimes.
Russian Ransomware Attack
Several weeks ago, Biden asked the team to assess and review the possible options that the American government can do to control the surging ransomware attacks. Sen. Mark Warner said the U.S. can demand Russia to take responsibility for its territory and crackdown on the surging number of ransomware attacks coming from its region, NBC News reported.
After the ransomware attack on the weekend, Biden ordered U.S. intelligence agencies on July 3 to investigate the issue. Security firm Huntress Labs was the first one to identify REvil as being the one responsible for the crime that hit hundreds of American companies. The same group was believed to be behind the attack on meatpacker JBS SA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said.
REvil used a Kaseya tool called VSA that many companies use to manage technology at smaller businesses. The ransomware group then proceeded to encrypt the files of those providers' customers simultaneously, Reuters reported.
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