Biden says 'minimal damage' to US firms by latest Russia-linked ransomware attack

US President Joe Biden on July 6 said that the ransomware attack centred on Florida’s information technology firm Kaseya appears to only have “minimal damage” on American businesses. His remarks followed a ransomware attack that scrambled the data of hundreds of small businesses across the globe including several in the United States. REvil, a Russia-linked cybercrime syndicate too credit for Friday’s breach. After the US President was briefed by the advisers, he told the reporters on Tuesday that they are still gathering information.

"It appears to have caused minimal damage to U.S. businesses, but we're still gathering information," Biden told reporters. "I feel good about our ability to be able to respond."

Shortly after Biden informing about “minimal damage,” Kaseya issued a separate statement saying that the ransomware attack never posed a threat to critical US infrastructure which was also one of the concerns that US President conveyed as “off limits” to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during their highly-anticipated summit in Geneva last month. However, the latest attack on Kaseya was also another illustration of how cybercriminals, who are mainly believed to be operating from Russia, are targeting companies in the United States. 

Cyberattack hit up to 1,500 companies

Biden’s moves to push Putin to bring cybercriminals in Russia to heel are not appearing visibly effective as up to 1,500 companies across the globe were impacted by the massive ransomware attack spanning a dozen countries on July 2. These attacks also affected a supermarket chain in Sweden and schools in New Zealand. REvil who took the responsibility of unleashing the ransomware attack was also responsible for a similar attack on meat processor JBS in the United States at the end of May. 

In the latest incident involving cybercriminals based in Russia, the attackers detected vulnerability in the product of Kaseya, a US-headquartered company that provides software tools to its clients that include IT outsourcing companies that further provide services to their clients. Kaseya has estimated that around 1,500 “downstream” businesses were affected as the hackers demanded $70 million in cryptocurrency in exchange for a key that would decrypt all data of the victims.

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