Kremlin says no US inquiries received over hacker attack on IT software company

Russian Politics & Diplomacy July 05, 2021, 14:53

It was reported earlier that the enterpise based in Dublin and with US headquarters in Miami was attacked by the hackers that were demanding a ransom of $44,900

MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/. The United States has sent no inquires to the Kremlin over a cyberattack against the international IT company Kaseya, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"No, I do not have any information that any data has been provided. No, nothing has come in," Peskov said in response to a question about whether the Kremlin had received any official inquiries from the US over a hacker attack on Kaseya, considering that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden had agreed on interaction in the cyber sphere at their summit in Geneva.

The Kremlin has not studied any information on this issue. Nonetheless, hacker attacks that the West blames Russia for could be the subject of bilateral consultations between Moscow and Washington, the presidential spokesman noted.

"In actual fact, [the] presidents [Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States] reached an agreement that a mechanism of consultations on cybersecurity would be launched. This issue could become a topic for discussions as part of these consultations," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman found it difficult to say when the first consultations could take place. "I do not know anything about that," he said, replying to a corresponding question.

Kaseya is based in Dublin and with US headquarters in Miami, Florida, and offers software to companies that provide remote IT services. The cyberattack has impacted at least six such companies that manage technology at smaller businesses. Their data have presumably been temporarily paralyzed. According to the Bloomberg news agency that reported on the cyberattack, the hackers are demanding a ransom of $44,900.

As Bloomberg claims, hackers from the group REvil that could be linked to Russia might be behind the ransomware attack. Hackers from this group have also been blamed for a cyberattack on the US division of the global meat processor JBS in late May.

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