Biden says "looking closely" at retaliation over ransomware attack

Photo taken on April 8, 2021 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Major meat producer JBS USA said it suffered a cyberattack and that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia. A White House official said the United States was in direct touch with Russia and conveyed concerns about the issue.

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that his administration was "looking closely" at whether to retaliate against Russia for a recent ransomware attack.

"We're looking closely at that issue," Biden told reporters in the White House when asked if the United States would retaliate against Russia for the latest ransomware attack.

Biden replied "no" when asked if he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin was testing him with the hack ahead of their meeting later this month.

Major meat producer JBS USA said on Sunday it suffered a cyberattack and notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia.

The United States was in direct touch with Russia and conveyed concerns about the issue, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a daily briefing on Wednesday.

"We do expect this to be one of the issues that the president will discuss with President Putin at the summit," she added, noting "harboring criminal entities that are intending to do harm, that are doing harm to the critical infrastructure in the United States is not acceptable."

The latest ransomware attack came weeks after a similar cyberattack targeting Colonial Pipeline, which forced the company to shut down approximately 5,500 miles of fuel pipeline for days.

The Biden administration concluded that the Russian government was not involved in the attack against Colonial Pipeline, while indicating criminals behind the hack were living in Russia.

Biden said last month that he would raise the cybercrime issue in talks with Putin. The two leaders will hold their first summit in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have been adversarial in recent years. The two sides have obvious differences on issues related to Ukraine, cybersecurity, human rights, and U.S. election interference.