Biden demands that Putin measures against cyberattacks

Academic: Putin and Biden could take up arms issue 2:34

(CNN) -

President Joe Biden urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to take action to stop criminal ransomware groups in Russia during a call on Friday morning - the first public discussion since the summit in Geneva last month. last month - but the Kremlin says US agencies have not made any formal requests in the past month about the recent cyber attacks.

Following the signing of a decree at the White House on Friday afternoon, Biden indicated that he and Putin have established more direct communication.

He also stressed that Putin must act against ransomware operations that are originated by Russian actors.

“I made it very clear to him that the United States expects that when a ransomware operation comes from its territory - even if it is not sponsored by the state - we expect him to act.

And we've given him enough information to act on whoever it is, ”Biden said.

He added: “We have set up communication means now, on a regular basis, to be able to communicate when one of us thinks something is happening in the other country.

That affects the country of origin.

So it went well.

I am optimistic".

When asked if there will be consequences for Russia, Biden said: "Yes."

The White House similarly conveyed in a previous statement that during the call, “Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that it is committed to continued engagement in the face of the broader threat that stands for ransomware ”.

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"President Biden reiterated that the United States will take whatever action is necessary to defend its people and critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge," the statement continued.

Later on Friday, the president also said that it makes sense to target servers used by Russian cybercriminals in response to their attacks.

The Kremlin statement

A Kremlin statement released late on Friday indicated that the two leaders discussed "the need for substantive and constructive cooperation" between Russia and the United States on issues related to cybersecurity.

But the statement also suggested that the United States has not made any formal requests to Russia about the recent cyberattacks.

“In the framework of recent reports on a series of cyberattacks allegedly committed from the territory of Russia, Vladimir Putin pointed out that, despite the predisposition of the Russian side to jointly suppress criminal demonstrations in the information space, no requests have been made on these matters from the competent US agencies during the last month, "the statement said.

But the Biden administration maintains that the United States made a direct request to Russia.

"We have relayed multiple specific requests to ask Russia for action against cybercriminals through official channels and we have been clear about what Russia's responsibility is with regard to taking action," an administration official told reporters.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained during a press conference on Friday that Biden “reiterated his expectations that President Putin will take action, even if it is not led by the Russian government, if it is because of criminal actors in his own country".

The call lasted about an hour, he said.

“This is the first time - although ransomware attacks have been increasing over the past 18 months, if not longer - that there has been this level of engagement at this level.

And certainly the president knew, even when we met in Geneva, that there would be a need for discussions and compromises, ”said Psaki.

He added that Biden “has always believed that this was going to need continued diplomatic engagement with the Russians,” adding, “We've had expert-level conversations, we've had those conversations focused on cyberspace, focused on ransomware, but he also understands that we're going to need, at times, to have conversations at the leadership level. "

The two leaders also discussed the recent renewal of cross-border humanitarian assistance to Syria at the United Nations Security Council, according to the White House.

The Kremlin said Putin also expressed condolences for the collapse of the residential building in Surfside, Florida.

Biden confronted Putin about cyberattacks by Russian-based actors during the Geneva summit.

And earlier this week, Psaki said the White House has conveyed to Russian officials that there is a responsibility to respond after recent cyberattacks and that the United States is ready to "take action" if necessary.

Cyberattacks on Kaseya and Synnex

The White House indicated earlier this week that senior national security officials have been in contact with "high-level" Russian officials about the ransomware attack on software vendor Kaseya.

Hundreds of companies affected in cyberattack on Kaseya 1:09

Earlier, the White House said the Intelligence Community has not yet attributed the attack, but noted that the group believed responsible, REvil, operates outside of Russia.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) said Wednesday that its networks were not breached and its data was not accessed after an information technology provider used by the RNC said it "is conducting a exhaustive review of some cases in which external actors have tried to obtain access ”.

The contractor, Synnex, declined to say when these attempts occurred and to what extent they were directed at the RNC.

The RNC says that upon learning that Synnex's systems were hacked, "all access to Synnex's accounts was immediately blocked."

The

New York Times

reported that the hackers behind the attack on Synnex were from Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, citing investigators in the case.

If that's true, it's the same hacking group that carried out the massive attack on SolarWinds and the attack on the Democratic National Committee in 2015.

CNN's DJ Judd, Alex Marquardt, Zachary Cohen and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

cyberattackJoe BidenRansomwareVladimir Putin