Joe Biden asked, Friday July 9, Vladimir Putin, during a telephone exchange, to act against the "ransomware" attacks carried out from Russia, under penalty of seeing the United States take "the necessary measures" to to defend oneself.
The American president, who had already raised the tone on the subject when he met his Russian counterpart in Geneva in June, had been under pressure since the spectacular assault carried out a week ago against the American computer company Kaseya by Russian-speaking hackers.
Faced with a Republican opposition that demands retaliation, Joe Biden had discussed Tuesday with senior officials, including intelligence or justice, the response.
He then said he would "pass" a message to Vladimir Putin.
On Friday, the Democrat therefore spoke live with his Russian counterpart.
"The president stressed the importance that Russia takes action against groups that practice ransomware" from his soil, according to a statement from the White House.
He "reiterated that the United States would take all necessary measures to defend its inhabitants and their critical infrastructure in the face of this persistent challenge," according to the report.
The discussion "went well, I'm optimistic," Joe Biden said afterwards.
Asked about potential "consequences", he assured that "yes" there would be, without revealing anything.
"Cyber capability"
The United States has recently been hit by numerous "ransomware" or "ransomware" attacks, which involve breaking into an entity's networks to encrypt its data and then demanding a ransom, most often in bitcoins. , in exchange for the decryption key.
In addition to Kaseya, which has still not been able to restart its servers, hackers have attacked the meat giant JBS, the oil pipeline manager Colonial Pipeline, but also local communities and American hospitals.
Although Moscow denies any responsibility, most of these extortion attempts have been blamed on hackers operating from Russian territory.
At their summit in Switzerland, the two men addressed the issue and agreed to continue the dialogue with meetings between Russian and American cybersecurity experts.
Joe Biden had also threatened his counterpart with retaliation if red lines were crossed.
"I pointed out to him that we had a significant cybernetic capacity," he reported.
"Most cyberattacks in the world come from American space," Vladimir Putin retorted, accusing Washington of not cooperating against hackers.
"Apolitical"
On Friday, on the phone, the Russian president remained on this line.
"Vladimir Putin noted that, despite the Russian willingness to help fight cybercriminals, in recent months we have not received any requests" for mutual assistance from US investigators, according to a Kremlin report.
"Given the scale and the dangerousness of the problem, interactions between Russia and the United States must be permanent, professional and apolitical," the statement said.
The US Department of Justice had considered in June "unnecessary" to formulate extradition requests to Russia, accused of protecting hackers installed on its soil in exchange for their help "in areas of government interest".
Despite everything, the White House seems to want to avoid a too direct confrontation.
Its spokesperson Jen Psaki stressed on Friday "that he had no new information suggesting that the Russian government may have led" the latest attacks.
With AFP
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