"By the principle of highley like": what is behind Biden's words about the possible involvement of Russia in the next cyberattack

US President Joe Biden did not rule out that a new cyberattack on a number of companies could be carried out by Moscow.

“I instructed the intelligence community to provide me with a detailed analysis of what happened, and tomorrow I will have more complete information.

If this happened with the knowledge of Russia and / or as a result of its actions, then, as I told (to Russian President Vladimir. -

RT

) Putin, we will answer, "Biden said about the" recent attack by Russian hackers. "

At the same time, as the head of the White House added, the US administration is not yet sure that the hacker attack was carried out by the “Russians”.

Earlier, Bloomberg, citing cybersecurity company Huntress Labs, reported that "a large-scale attack by a Russian-linked hacker group using the ransomware virus has affected about 200 enterprises and is ongoing."

“As noted by Huntress Labs, the target of the hackers was managed service providers, which often provide IT support to small and medium-sized businesses.

By breaking into the servers of a managed service provider, hackers can gain access to the computer networks of its customers, ”the report says.

According to reporters, Huntress Labs reported that Kaseya's software, which is used by many organizations and enterprises in the United States, was hacked.

After that, the agency cited the words of the technical director of the BreachQuest company, specializing in cybersecurity, who admitted that members of the hacker group REvil were involved in the incident.

It is worth noting that it was this group that was previously associated with Russia by Bloomberg, as well as a number of other Western media outlets.

Recall that at the end of May, the Brazilian company JBS, the world's largest meat producer, announced that a hacker attack had been organized against it, after which it was forced to close all its meat factories in the United States.

Later, the White House, citing representatives of the firm, said that the ransom may have been demanded from Russia.

In connection with the incident, the FBI issued an official statement in which it accused the hacker group REvil of hacking into JBS, but there was no mention of the hackers' connection with Moscow.

However, this did not prevent the American media from drawing a parallel between the incident and Russia.

For example, the American television channel CNBC published an article under the catchy headline "Russian-linked cybercriminal group REvil is behind the attack on the JBS meat processing plant."

In the article, a representative of the cybersecurity company Arete Incident Response stated that the REvil hackers were allegedly protected by Russian intelligence and the Russian government.

But no evidence supporting this statement was provided in the material.

Development of events

After the publication of Bloomberg's publication about the new cyberattack, the fact of hacking was confirmed in Kaseya, having published a corresponding message on its website, but nothing was said about the hacker group REvil in it.

Does not mention REvil and the US Cyber ​​and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in a statement announcing the start of an investigation into the incident.

“CISA is taking action to investigate and remediate the recent ransomware attack on the Kaseya VSA and multiple managed service providers using VSA software.

CISA urges organizations to familiarize themselves with the recommendations of Kaseya and immediately follow their instructions on shutting down the VSA servers, ”the agency's website says.

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• © Kacper Pempel / Illustration

In addition, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation began its proceedings around the incident.

The hacker group REvil is also silent in the current FBI press release.

In turn, the UK and Australia reacted to the Kaseya cyber hack.

Recall that these countries, together with the United States, are part of the English-speaking intelligence alliance The Five Eyes (FVEY).

However, the National Cyber ​​Security Center of Great Britain also did not report REvil's involvement in the incident, although they said they knew about the incident, informs the BBC.

In turn, the Australian Cybersecurity Center confirmed that the hackers from REvil were involved in the hacking.

However, the Australian Cybersecurity Center said nothing about the fact that this group is allegedly connected with Russia.

According to the department, the investigation of the incident "has not yet been completed."

"According to preliminary reports, the cyberattack on the supply chain allowed the REvil group to spread a malicious virus through update mechanisms in the Kaseya VSA software in order to encrypt the data stored in the victim's networks and demand a ransom for them," reads a message posted on the structure's website.

"Quite a tenacious myth"

As Yuri Rogulev, director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States at Moscow State University, noted in an interview with RT, despite the fact that Biden did not rule out Russia's involvement in a new cyberattack, he also actually admitted that he did not have data that could confirm this.

However, the American media nevertheless began their campaign to ascribe blame to Russia for what happened, the expert added.

“The head of the White House just instructed to sort things out, and they are already asking him about the“ Russian hackers ”.

It turns out that even without any clarifications and proofs, the Russian Federation still again turns out to be guilty for the American and Western media.

At the same time, Russian hackers are understood to be persons who allegedly act at the direction of the government of the Russian Federation, ”the analyst said.

Rogulev stressed that such a media system was developed under the leadership of democrats associated with these media.

“Russia's guilt in most cyberattacks on the United States and other countries is a rather tenacious myth that members of the Democratic Party themselves created, and then fixed it in the minds of American journalists or asked to consolidate it.

And now the Western media operate according to a well-established scheme, ”the expert noted.

Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has a similar point of view.

According to him, the American media are "servile".

“Their independence is out of the question.

This is a kind of instrument in the hands of the American political establishment, which is not interested in normalizing relations with Russia.

The media, including at the behest of the Democratic Party, are trying hard to shape the image of Russia as an enemy by manipulating the public, ”the expert said in a conversation with RT.

As Rogulyov stressed, precisely because the media are deliberately continuing to create a kind of anti-Russian trend, "the already formed negative image of Russia in the West is fueled by new details."

“They are spreading information that, allegedly, at the direction of the Russian government, specially trained people are attacking the infrastructure of other countries and private companies.

At the same time, no supporting information is provided, only the already familiar theses, drawn up on the principle of highlighted like, appear, ”he said.

Rogulyov also drew attention to the fact that the media spread information about the new cyber hack, referring to the little-known company in the United States, Huntress Labs, which does not have even five hundred subscribers on its official Facebook page.

“The American mass media are ready to replicate everything that can somehow be connected with Russia, without even caring about the authenticity of the primary sources,” the analyst stated.

• White House building

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In turn, Yuri Rogulev believes that such an information agenda is beneficial to the FBI and other American departments.

“These structures will never tell the truth, because they often say what they want to hear from them,” the analyst said.

In his opinion, the emergence of reports on investigations of a new cyber attack by three countries at once - the United States, Great Britain and Australia - can be explained by the fact that the countries have agreements on joint work in the cybersphere, including in the event of such incidents.

At the same time, Blokhin believes that the American special services and cyber services of other states are deliberately in no hurry to accuse Moscow of involvement in the new hack.

“They are now playing for time to make everything look believable, as if the investigation is really going on.

But then they can easily say that Russia is again to blame for everything.

In this sense, the American and Western media act even more honestly - they at least do not pretend that they want to understand what happened, ”the expert believes.

In turn, Yuri Rogulev recalled that not only the United States, but also Russia, as well as other countries of the world, suffer from cybercrimes.

“Moscow has more than once offered Washington and other Western countries to join forces in countering cybercrime.

But instead of establishing cooperation in this area, the West, led by the United States, continues to nod at the alleged malicious actions of Russia in the cybersphere, which has never been proven, ”the expert concluded.