Putin concerned about cyber attacks

BEIJING, May 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for discussing the problem of cyber security at a "serious political level" with other countries.

"This question should be discussed at once at a serious political level and a system of protection from such events devised," Putin said while answering media questions

Cyber attack on May 12 has not inflicted any significant damage to Russian agencies but the situation in general is alarming, Putin said.

"There hasn’t been any significant damage for us and our agencies, banks or healthcare system," Putin said. "But in general this (cyber attack) is serious and there is nothing good here, this arouses concern."

Putin recalled that "back last year we invited our US partners to look into cyber security matters and even to conclude a corresponding inter-governmental agreement on this issue."

"Regrettably, our proposal was rejected. Then the previous administration said it was prepared to get back to our proposal, but nothing was done in practice," Putin said.

"We are fully aware that the genies, in particular, those created by secret services, may harm their own authors and creators, should they be let out of the bottle," Putin said.

Putin noted that Microsoft’s leadership had said that US intelligence services were the source of this virus and that Russia had nothing to do with this. "This reflects the reality in the best way on this issue, and this is that they always look for someone to blame where there isn’t anyone guilty," he said.

Numerous ransomware attacks on Windows-operated PCs were reported in 74 countries on May 12, 2017. Around 45,000 cyber attacks were made using a virus that infects computer files and extorts ransom to unblock them. Most attempts to infect computers were registered in Russia. The hackers used the software of the US National Security Agency.