WASHINGTON, July 7. /TASS/. The United States and Russia are engaged in talks on cyber security, including at the senior level, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday.
"Since the meeting between President Biden and President Putin, we have undertaken expert-level talks that are continuing, and we expect to have another meeting next week focused on ransomware attacks," she said, when asked whether there had been any contacts between Moscow and Washington regarding the recent attack on international software company Kaseya.
"As the President made clear to President Putin when they met, if the Russian government cannot or will not take action against criminal actors residing in Russia, we will take action or reserve the right to take action on our own," Psaki continued. "In our conversations — and we have been in touch directly — we are continuing to convey that message clearly."
"A high level of our national security team has been in touch with a high level of Russian officials," she said when asked to specify the level of talks with the Russian side.
At the same time, Psaki stressed that the US intelligence community has so far made no official statements about those who may be behind the Kaseya cyber attack.
"The intelligence community has not yet attributed the attack. The cybersecurity community agrees that REvil operates out of Russia with affiliates around the world, so we will continue to allow that assessment to continue," she said.
Later, Psaki was also asked whether there was "any evidence" that the Russian government "has done anything" to curb cyberattacks. In response, she once again stressed that the attack on Kaseya was most likely masterminded by "criminal actors," and the US government has not yet officially named those responsible.
"There are these expert-level talks and negotiations and engagements. That’s an important part of the next steps, an important part of what came out of their discussion," she said. "And beyond that, I think what the message is that the President has sent clearly and what we’re sending — continuing to send clearly is: Even with these criminal actors — we’re not saying they’re coming from the government or directed from the government — but even with those actors, they have a responsibility."
Russian-US cybersecurity talks
Also, Psaki was asked whether US President Joe Biden President Biden was frustrated that the pace of the cybersecurity talks seems to be slow. "I wouldn’t say he would characterize it that way," she replied.
"The meeting with the Russian President was just a couple of weeks ago. We’ve had ongoing meetings at an expert level pretty much since that point in time. And again, there’s another meeting scheduled for next week," the press secretary said.
The Russian-US summit was held in Geneva on June 16.
Kaseya cyberattack
Kaseya is based in Dublin and with US headquarters in Miami, Florida, and offers software to companies that provide remote IT services. According to cybersecurity company Huntress Labs, the attack affected more than a thousand companies in 17 countries that use its services.
As Bloomberg claimed last Friday, 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.
US Presdient Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday that, based on initial information, the US authorities see no Russian government’s role in the attack. At the same time, he said Washington has no definite information on who may be behind the incident.
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
Cybersecurity problem
The issue of threats in cyberspace gained particular importance in the United States in recent months. In early May, attackers from the DarkSide group hacked into the systems of the American pipeline company Colonial Pipeline. According to American intelligence services, DarkSide may be based on the territory of Russia or Eastern Europe, but is not associated with any government. On May 31, the computer networks of the American division of the Brazilian meat processing company JBS were attacked. According to the White House press service, the company believes that a Russian-based cybercrime organization could be behind this attack.
On June 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin branded the accusations against Moscow of being behind those cyberattacks as ridiculous and preposterous. The Russian president assumed that it could have been orchestrated to stir up controversy ahead of his meeting with Biden. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured that Russia would quickly consider any requests coming from the US regarding the hacker attack on the meat processing company, if there are any. He also emphasized that Moscow had no information regarding the perpetrators behind the JBS attacks.