US calls on Russia to stop hacker attacks

Blinken's address was posted on the State Department website as part of a conversation with Juan Carlos Lopez (CNN).

In response to a question about recent hacker attacks on Colonial Pipeline, which operates a major American pipeline, Blinken said that a new cyber threat is emanating from Russia, linked to attacks by criminal organizations on American businesses. However, Blinken has not yet discussed the details of the fight against this threat with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“I think that any country is obliged to do everything possible to find hacker groups and bring them to justice, including in the case of the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline”, - the Dozhd TV channel quoted Blinken as saying.

According to the secretary of state, the group responsible for the recent attack on the pipeline was and is still in Russia, as are its leaders.

The US Secretary of State also called for all countries in the world to "commit themselves not to harbor criminal enterprises" that organize cyber attacks and participate in attacks. Countries must track them down, stop them, and hold them accountable.

According to Blinken, American government and non-governmental organizations should simultaneously strengthen their defense against cyber attacks, including the use of ransomware.

Earlier it was reported that on May 7, the American company Colonial Pipeline, which operates a large pipeline, was subjected to a hacker attack using ransomware. The essence of their work is to block the company's systems and demand a ransom for unblocking. The US is convinced that the "think tank" of this attack is in Russia. The FBI found out that the ransomware virus was created by hackers from the DarkSide group.

According to Bloomberg, the attacked company was forced to pay five million dollars to unblock the systems.

As noted by RBC, at the end of May, the North American and Australian branches of the largest meat producer JBS were attacked. Because of this, all of the company's beef processing plants have been suspended in the United States. “In addition, JBS had to completely stop slaughtering in Australia and cancel shifts at a Canadian plant that processes up to 4,200 head of livestock per day. The company said that behind the attack is an organization that is “probably based in Russia,” the newspaper notes.

Reuters, citing a source, said that a hacker group called REvil was behind the attack, the information was later confirmed by the FBI.

Biden intends to raise the topic of cyber attacks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in mid-June.