The Biden administration will “take action” if Russian President Vladimir Putin fails to address criminal actors operating in his country while the White House, according to press Secretary Jen Psaki, said that the massive ransomware attack was not yet completely attributed to Russia.
“As the president made clear to President Putin when they met, if the Russian government cannot or will not take action against criminal actors residing in Russia, we will take action or reserve the right to take action on our own,” Psaki told a press conference on Tuesday.
Biden, following the news conference, assessed the $70 million attack and noted that it “appears to have caused minimal damage” to the businesses in the U.S. businesses.
The president was armed with a prepared statement as he said he will talk more regarding the attack in the next few days. “I feel good about our ability to be able to respond,” he told reporters.
There had been some 1, 500 businesses worldwide that had been affected by the largest ransomware attack on record, which targeted the software company Kaseya based in Miami. The ransomware group behind the attack is demanding $70 million to fix the damage. Support service providers were targeted by the hackers who aimed to get into customer networks.
The press secretary, just like Biden did over the weekend, released a careful statement to not press Russia on the recent attack. She said that the origin “hasn’t been fully attributed yet” by the intelligence agency, FOX News reported.
Psaki said that negotiations have been continuing since Biden and Putin met in Geneva. The ransomware attacks will be tackled at the scheduled “expert-level meeting” between the two countries next week.
Biden will gather US government leaders on Wednesday to talk regarding the attacks and “our overall strategic efforts to counter it.” Included in the meeting are representatives from the Homeland Security Department, Justice Department, State Department, as well as the intelligence agency.
