Biden Faces His ‘Moment of Reckoning’ Over Russian Cyber Attacks as Pressure Builds
Russian cybercriminals’ latest massive ransomware attack is placing new pressure on President Joe Biden to follow through on his promise to make Moscow pay for turning a blind eye to digital assaults emanating from within its borders.
The cyberattack disclosed Friday on IT management software maker Kaseya, which may have affected as many as 1,500 companies whose vendors were using Kaseya’s product, prompted emergency meetings over the weekend between the FBI, DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other agencies, as officials scrambled to assess the scale of the damage. Victims included a tech vendor that provides services to the Republican National Committee, although the RNC said Tuesday that none of its own data had been “accessed.”
But while the government’s cyber defenders help affected companies recover their computer systems, senior Biden administration officials face a more daunting challenge: pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin to crack down on criminals such as the REvil gang that took credit for infecting Kaseya with ransomware.
