July 12, 2021

During an hour-long phone call between President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday, Biden expressed growing impatience over the increasing number of ransomware attacks in key sectors of the U.S.

While the U.S. did not say how it would respond to the attacks from Russia, Joe Biden hinted at digital retaliation if Russian cooperation did not materialize.

Biden said the two administrations had drawn up a plan to communicate more frequently about cyberattacks.

On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the U.S. has no further information indicating that the Russian government planned the attack on Kaseya.

Discussing the meeting with Putin, Biden said, “I made it very clear to him that the United States expects, when a ransomware operation is coming from his soil even though it’s not sponsored by the state, we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is.”

The two are expected to meet again on July 16.

For more information, read the original story in Reuters.