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Putin-Biden meeting in Geneva

Putin, Biden to discuss cyber norms during Geneva summit, says US official

The issue of cyber threats has become more relevant in the US in recent months

WASHINGTON, June 15. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden plans to discuss cyber norms during the meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva on June 16, a senior US official told reporters on Tuesday on board Biden’s plane en route from Brussels to Geneva. The White House published a transcript of the press briefing on its website.

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"On the cyber side, obviously, ransomware will be a significant topic of conversation tomorrow. They (Biden and Putin - TASS) will also discuss the broader issue of cyber norms, cyber rules of the road tomorrow in the discussion," the official said.

"And the President will make clear that if we see significant types of cyber activity, like we did with SolarWinds, he will respond like we did with SolarWinds. Beyond that, I’m not going to preview the conversation per the President’s desire to be able to have the discussion with Putin and then read it out after," he added.

"We believe that the response on SolarWinds was, as the President said at the time, proportional. We believe it sent a message about what the United States would and would not tolerate," the senior official noted. "But, of course, this is a larger challenge that is going to require a consistent, steady policy on our part, and we will approach the issue accordingly."

The software Orion, from the IT company SolarWinds, was hacked in March last year. The hackers managed to manipulate SolarWinds Orion's software updates to include malware, which, once installed, allowed the hackers to monitor its customers' systems. The update was then downloaded and used by thousands of SolarWinds clients, including leading government offices and more than 400 major US companies. On April 15, the United States took sanctions against Russia on the suspicion Russian intelligence was behind the SolarWinds hack. Moscow has repeatedly dismissed these charges.

The issue of cyber threats has become more relevant in the US in recent months. In early May, hackers from the DarkSide group hacked the systems of US pipeline company Colonial Pipeline. According to the US intelligence, the hacker group may be based in Russia or Eastern Europe, however, it has no links to any government. On May 31, a hacker attack on the US meat processing company JBS was recorded.

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