The United States of America is about to warn the Russian administration of the increasing cases of ransomware attacks allegedly originating from within its borders. “Take decisive action quickly, or we will, on our own,” indicated White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Amidst the increasing number of ransomware attacks crippling several key American industries, the U.S. could launch a direct assault on the cybercriminals operating with impunity, allegedly inside Russia.
America will take action if Russia fails to, warns the U.S. administration:
There’s no secret that America is in the midst of a raging cyber war. Several state-sponsored, highly-skilled, well-funded, and motivated hackers are going after American companies.
One of the increasing threats that American companies are facing includes Ransomware attacks. Several large groups of hackers are actually running Ransomware as a service. Such a distributed approach, and business model, is proving very lucrative.
"We're not saying they're coming from the [Russian] government," @PressSec tells @CBSNews @weijia, addressing this weekend's widespread ransomware attack.
"But even with those actors, [Russia] has a responsibility. That's where the policy is moving forward." pic.twitter.com/PshIZqB1B8
— Nicole Sganga (@NicoleSganga) July 6, 2021
After the recent spate of ransomware attacks, including one on Colonial Pipeline, the U.S. administration initiated government-level discussions with Russia. Although there’s no strong evidence yet, multiple reports indicate several groups of hackers are operating from within Russia.
Now White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has reportedly said that the U.S. will take action against cybercriminal groups from Russia if the Russian government fails or refuses to do so.
How will the U.S. administration under Biden’s leadership respond to cyberattacks?
It is interesting to note that the U.S. administration hasn’t been able to identify the origin of the REvil ransomware attack on Florida-based IT company Kaseya. Hence, the government cannot hold Russia responsible, directly or indirectly.
Nonetheless, Psaki noted that high-level US and Russian officials will meet again next week. The primary agenda of the meeting is to address the recent attacks that have targeted U.S. organizations this year.
SCOOP: Russian government hackers breached the computer systems of the Republican National Committee last week, around the time a Russia-linked group unleashed a massive ransomware attack https://t.co/WrvYW2Osl8
— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) July 6, 2021
“We have undertaken expert-level talks that are continuing. We expect to have another meeting next week focused on ransomware attacks.”
“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.”
“Now, in this case, the intelligence community has not yet attributed the attack. The cybersecurity community agrees that REvil operates out of Russia with affiliates around the world.”
BREAKING: A massive ransomware attack by Russia-based hackers on the global software supply chain has hit more than 1,000 businesses across at least 11 countries.https://t.co/RAPXAqnFTp
— Bloomberg (@business) July 3, 2021
There’s little doubt that cyber threats are increasing. Ransomware is one of the rapidly growing problems every large and even medium company faces.
However, unless there’s actual evidence that proves hackers are working from within Russia, it will be difficult for the U.S. administration to take any direct and decisive actions. The least Biden’s government can do is go after the cybercriminals in the virtual world and disrupt their activities using counterintelligence and counteroffensive tactics.
Regardless of what the American government does, companies in the U.S. are now lucrative targets. This is partly because several companies actually pay the ransom to secure decryption keys.