Joe Biden 'looking closely' at possible retaliation from Russia over cyberattack

US President Joe Biden on June 2 said that he is “looking” possibly at retaliation from Russia after the White House linked Moscow with a cyberattack against the global meat processing giant JBS. As Biden is set to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin later this month in Geneva, when he was asked by a reporter if he would take action regarding the cyberattack, the US President said, “We're looking closely at that issue." 

The latest cyberattack on JBS has yet again triggered accusations that Russia is at the least, harbouring cybercriminals after similar suspicions were raised after ransomware hackers forced the shutdown of a massive fuel pipeline in the United States. When US President was asked if Putin was testing the former ahead of the summit, Biden said, “no.”

Major meat producer, the US subsidiary of Brazilian-owned JBS on Sunday revealed that it suffered a cyberattack and notified the government that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization linked with Russia. Following which White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in a news briefing on Wednesday that, “We do expect this to be one of the issues that the president will discuss with President Putin at the summit.”

“Harboring criminal entities that are intending to do harm, that are doing harm to the critical infrastructure in the United States is not acceptable," she added. Meanwhile, earlier, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday said that the White House and the Department of Agriculture have spoken to JBS leadership “several times in the last day” in a bid to offer assistance. She said, “JBS notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia."

Jean-Pierre said the administration is "engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbour ransomware criminals” before adding that, “Hearing directly from President Putin is the most effective way to understand Russia plans and intends.”

US Fuel Pipeline Hack

While the FBI identified the group behind the hack of Colonial Pipeline as ‘DarkSide’, Biden also said on Monday that so far there has been “no evidence” from American intelligence that Russia is involved. He said that evidence is there that actors of the massive hack are in Russia. On May 8, the operator of the major pipeline system that transports fuel across the East Coast in the United States said that it had been a target of a ransomware attack. Hence, Colonial Pipeline halted all pipeline operations to deal with the cyber threat. The operator reportedly did not say what was demanded or who made the demand initially.

As per the BBC report, the cybercriminal gang that attacked Colonial Pipeline, which delivers roughly 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, acknowledged the ransomware incident in a public statement. DarkSide wrote on its website that “Our goal is to make money and not creating problems for society.” In a statement that the group posted on its website on May 10, it described itself as “apolitical.” It further said, “We do not participate in geopolitics, do not need to tie us with a defined government and look for... our motives.”

IMAGE: AP