The US National Security Council organized virtual meetings this week to discuss countering ransomware operators. In total, 30 countries were invited to the conference, including Ukraine, Mexico, Israel, Germany, and the UK, however, Russia and China were not invited to the discussion.
The cyber threat posed by ransomware is increasingly worrying people at the highest level. The ransoms have already reached over $400 million in 2020 and $81 million in the first quarter of 2021.
US President Joe Biden announced in early October that representatives from more than 30 countries will work together to fight back against cybercriminals distributing ransomware. This initiative was the result of very dangerous and large-scale attacks by ransomware operators that recently hit Colonial Pipeline and Kaseya.
It is interesting to note that recently Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made it clear that Moscow is interested in discussing the problem of ransomware viruses with Washington, but does not want contacts to be limited only to this topic. “American colleagues are still trying to focus all their work on what interests them,” he complained at the time.
Despite the previously announced cooperation in the field of cybersecurity between Moscow and Washington, no one expected Russian official representatives at the meetings. The organizers of the meetings did not invite China and Russia.
Perhaps the reason lies in a misunderstanding that arose at a certain stage. The United States has repeatedly asked Russia to take measures against ransomware operators located in the country. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki even promised that Washington itself would deal with these cyber groups if the Kremlin could not.
