On Wednesday, Biden told reporters that he handed to Russian President Vladimir Putin a critical infrastructure list that should be a no-go from Russian cyberattacks.
The list of 16 critical infrastructures includes entities such as commercial facilities, defense, dams, energy, emergency, financial services, food, government, IT, manufacturing, transportation, and water.
Biden says he gave Putin a list of 16 areas of critical infrastructure that "should be off-limits" for cyberattacks, including the energy sector and water supply
He says they agreed to have experts in their countries "work on specific understandings about what's off-limits" pic.twitter.com/K8oKdAFZ2J
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 16, 2021
Biden also added that they still have to find out whether they have a cybersecurity agreement that will help bring some order. Putin, however, denied any involvement in the recent cyberattacks against major U.S. industries.
Biden said he asked the Russian President how he’d feel if ransomware hackers attack pipelines from their old fields. According to Biden, Putin answered “it would matter,” adding that it is not just about self-interest.
Biden declined to say if military action is being considered against Russia
Biden declined to say whether military action is being considered if Russia is found to be responsible for the recent cyberattacks.
ABC News reporter, Cecilia Vega, asked Biden a crucial question. The question entailed whether a military response is an option for the Biden administration due to the ransomware attack.
Biden answered in the negative. He also added that they didn’t talk about military responses.
"No, we didn't talk about a military response," Pres. Biden tells @ceciliavega about a possible military retaliation to ransomware attacks. https://t.co/kHZvqJxcKb pic.twitter.com/9d2takJO1g
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 16, 2021
During the press conference, Biden also mentioned that he did not make any threats against Biden. Rather, he made “simple assertions.”
According to reports, the two leaders talked about the current tensions between the U.S. and Russia. Included among the causes of these tensions are the cyberattacks allegedly from Russian criminal groups and human rights issues.
Biden said months after the summit will be the test of its effectiveness
Earlier in the press conference, Biden mentioned that the next few months after the summit will be a “test” on how effective it was.
Biden said that they have to look back three to six months from now and ask themselves if the things they planned worked. He added that this will be the test. Biden also stressed that both U.S. and Russia each should act accordingly against cybercriminals within their territory.
Putin also conducted his own press conference after the meeting. In the press conference, the Russian leader cited American sources, saying that a “majority” of the cyberattacks in the world come from the United States.
An IT security firm research note last month stated that a number of organizations affected by cyberattacks surged to up to 102% compared to the previous year. Accordingly, the IT security firm also mentioned that they see “no sign of slowing down.”
In a few weeks, two major U.S. interests were affected by cyberattacks. Included among them were Colonial Pipeline and JBS Holdings. The attacks resulted in the company paying ransom money worth millions to regain control of the system.
