Cyber-attacks on U.S. businesses, such as the recent one against tech firm Kaseya in Florida, will be discussed at a meeting of senior U.S. and Russian officials next week, the White House said Tuesday.
“We expect to have a meeting next week focused on hacking attacks aimed at monetary gain,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
Friday’s attack involved data on hundreds of small businesses around the world, many of them in the United States. The Kaseya company said in a statement Tuesday that the attack, however, did not pose a threat to critical US infrastructure. The cyber attack was the latest in a string of hackers who have secured money by holding organizations’ data hostage in exchange for digital currency payments.
Although cyberattacks have been carried out for years, they have escalated dramatically recently. An intervention in the Colonial Pipeline company in May blocked gasoline supplies off the east coast of the United States.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said President Biden would meet with officials from the Department of Justice, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community on Wednesday to discuss cyber-attacks and U.S. efforts to fight them.
The attack that hit Kaseya’s customers – many of whom provide IT services – did not have the same impact in the United States as the oil pipeline hacking.
Interruption of services was more severe in other countries.
In Sweden, many of the 800 grocery stores run by Coop are still in the process of recovering from the attack, which paralyzed most of its supermarkets, although a spokesman told Reuters that “we currently have more shops open than closed. ”.
In New Zealand, 11 schools and several kindergartens were affected by the attack.
Germany’s cyber security watchdog, BSI, said on Tuesday that three companies providing IT services in Germany had been hit by the attack.
The hackers who claimed responsibility for the attack have demanded $ 70 million in ransom in order for the affected businesses to regain access to the data, but they have shown willingness to soften their demands in private conversations with a cyber security expert and Reuters. / VOA
