Biden and Putin Discussed Acting On Bitcoin Ransomware

by in Cryptocurrency News

Biden Putin talk

White House announced that US president Joe Biden had a phone talk with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on July 9. The subject was ransomware attacks from Russia-based gangs that occurred recently.

Related: Hackers attacked supercomputers in Europe for mining plans

Biden said the US finds Russia must take measures against the cybercriminals when the US gives them sufficient details to act upon the matter. The US president says this is vital, although attacks aren't sponsored by the state. He said he's optimistic about the call as the two countries built communication and will be able to warn one another about the possible attacks.

A few days ago a major cyberattack happened by the group REvil, assumed to come from Russia. The gang attacked Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and their clients. It is demanding $70 M to be paid in crypto to unlock hacked data. The attack impacts hundreds of enterprises in different countries.

There have been a number of ransomware attacks since spring that is assumed to be originated in Russia.

In May, REvil made two major attacks: against the world’s biggest meat supplier JBS and the nation’s oil pipeline system, Colonial Pipeline. JPS stopped its entire US operation and in the end, paid around $11 M. As for the Colonial Pipeline attack, it resulted in the disorder of about half of the East Coast’s fuel supply.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki finds the Russian government was responsible for the happened malwares directly.