As the string of ransomware attacks that have allegedly originated from Russia continue to plague the United States, President Joe Biden's threats to President Vladimir Putin remain unacted on, despite the former's aggressive stance on the issue.
On Friday, the Democrat once again warned Putin to take necessary actions against the alleged Russian-based cyber attacks and prevent them from happening. The U.S. president said the American government would retaliate with necessary force if the cyber crimes against the United States continued.
Russian Ransomware Attacks
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki previously said that Biden's Friday threat to Putin was the first time the Democrat conducted that level of engagement with the Russian president. But the statement comes after the two political leaders met at a summit in Geneva last month. During the meeting, Biden discussed 16 areas that would be the target of immediate response should the cyberattacks from Russia continue unhindered.
One of the most recent cyber attacks from Russian-based organizations targeted JBS, one of the largest meat processing companies worldwide. Since then, the group responsible has launched hundreds of other ransomware attacks worldwide, with some seemingly ignoring Biden's threats, whose response was a simple phone call, the New York Post reported.
The Democratic president previously did not order any retaliation against the alleged Russian-based group responsible for the cyberattacks on JBS and USAID. And on July 3, Biden ordered his administration to determine whether or not the cybercrime group really did come from Russia. The Democrat continued to assure his citizens that he would respond accordingly to threats to his country.
During the phone call, Biden told Putin that if the ransomware attacks continued, they would be treated as national security threats instead of criminal acts. The classification would warrant more stern responses from the American government, administration officials said.
When interviewed, Biden said he made it very clear to Putin that the American government expected the Russian administration to control ransomware attacks based on its soil even if they were not state-run attacks. The Democrat said he expected the Russian leader to act on the issue if given enough information regarding the location and identity of the attackers.
Severe Consequences
One of the primary ways that the American government could punish the criminals is by attacking the Russian servers that were used for the crimes, which would affect the country as a whole, Biden said, the New York Times reported.
The White House would not be announcing what plans it has to counter the Russian-based hacker group to the public, a senior administration official said. He added that the counterattacks would have some visible actions while others would not be as obvious.
Additionally, Biden said his administration has set up a continued means of communication with the Russian administration that would allow them to make contact regularly.
The cyberattack on Friday was suspected to have been conducted by REvil, a ransomware gang, and was expected to have affected about 1,500 companies, including a technology vendor that distributed services to the Republican National Committee, Politico reported.
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