President Joe Biden is warning Russian President Vladimir Putin the United States will do whatever is necessary to “defend its people” against ransomware attacks.
According to a White House readout of the call on Friday, Biden “underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware.”
The president also “reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge.”
Additionally, Biden said on Friday he made it clear to Putin “that the United States expects when a ransomware operation coming from his soil, even though it’s not sponsored by the state, we expect him to act. And we’ve given him enough information to act on who that is.”
He added, “We’ve set up a means of communication now on a regular basis to be able to communicate to one another when each of us thinks something is happening in another country that affects the home country.”
Watch his comments below:
BIDEN ON CALL WITH PUTIN: "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, not sponsored by the state we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is…" pic.twitter.com/2KdDlNaSOe
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 9, 2021
When asked if there will be consequences, Biden replied, “Yes.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki explained on Friday Biden’s intent “was to make clear and reiterate again that ransomware attacks by criminal groups on entities in the United States is not acceptable and that we reserve the right to take action.”
Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported, “Russian government hackers breached the computer systems of the Republican National Committee last week.”
According to the outlet, the hackers were members of a group known as APT 29 or Cozy Bear. The group has been connected to Russia’s foreign intelligence service and was accused of breaching the Democratic National Committee in 2016, as Bloomberg reported.
A spokesman for the RNC, Mike Reed, said, “There is no indication the RNC was hacked or any RNC information was stolen.”
