Biden says ransomware attack has caused “minimal damage” to US companies Reuters

By Raphael Satter and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that a ransomware attack centered on Florida’s information technology company Kaseya appears to have caused only “minimal damage” to U.S. companies.

“It appears to have caused minimal damage to U.S. companies, but we are still gathering information,” Biden told reporters after advising the advisers.

“I think it’s good that we have the ability to respond.”

Friday’s ransomware attack shook the data of hundreds of small businesses around the world, including many in the United States. REvil, a prosperous cybercrime union linked to Russia, claimed responsibility for the offense.

Following President Kaseya’s remarks, the attack never posed a threat to critical U.S. infrastructure, and Biden left them out of the border at a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month.

The attack was another illustration of alleged cybercriminals operating in the United States from Russia. Biden wanted to push Putin to take Russian cybercriminals to his heels, which has so far had little impact.

Attacks have intensified recently.

Last month, REvil took out a $ 11 million bailout from the JBS meat supplier after shattering its supply chain. Another group associated with Russia in May’s entry into the U.S.’s main fuel carrier at the Colonial Pipeline caused panic buying, rising prices and rising gasoline shortages up and down the East Coast.

The Republican National Commission said Tuesday it learned over the weekend that the third-party supplier Synnex Corp had been breached, but an investigation Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ 🙂 has determined that no RNC data has been entered.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday earlier that U.S. senior officials will meet with Russian counterparts next week to discuss the threat of a bailout.

“If the Russian government cannot or does not want to take action against criminals living in Russia, we will take action or we will reserve the right to take action on our own,” he said.

The Russian Embassy in Washington and the U.S. National Security Council did not return a message to get more details about the meeting.

On Wednesday, Biden will meet with officials from the Justice Department, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community to discuss the bailout and U.S. efforts to address it, Psaki said.

The hacks that hit Kaseya’s customers (many of whom are IT service offices, commonly called managed service providers) – did not have the same impact as the Colonial Pipeline rescue in the United States.

In other places the interruptions were more severe.

In Sweden, many of the 800 grocery stores run by the Coop chain are still in the process of recovering, which wiped out most supermarkets, although a spokesman told Reuters that “we have more than closed stores now.”

In New Zealand, it was affected by 11 schools and several kindergartens.

Germany’s cybersecurity guard, BSI, said on Tuesday that it knew three affected IT service providers in Germany, a spokesman said, had affected hundreds of companies in general.

“There are not as many notable cases in Germany as in Sweden,” the spokesman added.

Hackers responsible for the offense have demanded $ 70 million to recover all data from the affected businesses, although they have expressed a willingness to temper requests in a private interview with a cybersecurity expert and Reuters.

Kaseya’s chief executive told Reuters he would not reveal whether his company intended to pay the ransom or not, nor was he negotiating with REvil.

Psaki said that while the administration recommended such payments, doubts about whether the data would be rescued should be addressed to Kaseya.