Biden calls Putin, makes a request

Russian President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a call Friday that he should take action “against cybercriminals operating in Russia and that the United States enjoys the right to “protecting their people and vital infrastructure”, the White House reported.

Phone conversations between the two leaders come less than a month from their meeting in Geneva, when President Biden warned against continuing cyber attacks coming from Russia on American businesses and infrastructure. A new cybernetic attack linked to Russia's Revil Group caused major problems last weekend, affecting 1,500 businesses.

The White House said that “President Beden underlined the need for Russia to take action to hit cyber groups operating in Russia and stressed that it is committed to continuing its commitment to confront the widespread threat posed by these” attacks.

“President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any action needed to protect people and their vital infrastructure in the face of this ongoing challenge”, the White House statement said.

The recent conversation between the two world leaders follows a series of attacks on vital infrastructure and large corporations that are being addressed by the Biden administration as an urgent problem threatening national security.

A cyberattack in May against an important US pipeline forced the company to temporarily stop working. The colonial pipeline paid an estimated $4.4m to hackers, demanded by them as a condition to free company activity. The American authorities later managed to retake a large part of this amount thanks to an operation conducted last month.

The hackers also managed to write out an $11 million worth of money to the company. JBS SA, the world's largest meat processor. /voa