US Ready to Take Action against Hackers in Russia - Blinken

The head of the State Department said that countries that harbor cyber criminals are responsible to take action. If they don't, the US will. Washington is ready to take action against hackers in Russia if the country itself does not take appropriate action. This was stated by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during a speech at the emerging technology summit in Washington, Interfax-Ukraine reports Wednesday, July 14. Blinken noted that the United States views the activities of ransomware hackers not only as a law enforcement problem, but also as a national security problem. "That's a direct threat to the safety, to the well-being of our people, and so           it is at the top of our diplomatic agenda (...) And it’s also why we’re elevating ransomware in our engagements with Russia.  Our message is clear:  Countries that harbor cyber criminals have a responsibility to take action.  If they don’t, we will," the diplomat stressed. "Ransomware and other cyber crimes affect all of us - our business, local governments, our most critical infrastructure from power grids to hospitals," he said. "As you know, one in four Americans has been the victim of a cyber crime, at a cost of more than $4 billion every single year," the American diplomacy chief said. Blinken referred to a massive attack on SolarWinds attributed to Russia, and said that NATO reaffirmed that a cyber attack could trigger the application of Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty - "an attack on one is an attack on all". The secretary of state called it "an important step in deterring those attacks and protecting our national security in the cyber age." Recall that during a meeting in June, Biden gave Putin a list of 16 key US sectors that should not be subject to cyber attacks. In July, Biden spoke with Putin again about Russian hackers. He drew attention to the need for Putin to take measures to stop the activities of ransomware hackers operating from the territory of Russia.