The G7 has called on Russia to take stronger action on ransomware attacks and cybercrime that has occurred within their borders.
According to Security Week, the G7 – who recently met for a summit in Cornwall – has called on all states to identify, disrupt and hold accountable ransomware criminal networks operating within their borders.
However, the organisation specifically singled out Russia – calling on the Russian government to halt its ‘destabilising behaviour and malign activities’ and its interference in other countries’ ‘democratic systems’.
The G7 also said Russia should do more to hold those cybercriminals within its borders accountable who conduct ransomware attacks, abuse virtual currency to launder ransoms and other cybercrimes.
Following the recent summit, the G7 leaders issued a communiqué which underlined that all countries vowed to work together to ‘further a common understanding of how existing international law applies to cyberspace’ and collaborate to address the escalating shared threat from criminal ransomware networks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden are set to meet this week in Geneva, with Biden highlighting previously that he will bring up cybercrime. Both have also recently stated that are open to the idea of reciprocal extradition of cybercriminals.
The US-Russia hostilities due to cybersecurity-related issues have been growing since last year, when Russia was sanctioned by the US following the SolarWinds cyberattack, which saw US government departments affected by the hack.
More recently, operations at the Colonial Pipeline were brought to a standstill following a ransomware cyberattack that impacted some of its IT systems.
The pipeline – which transports 100 million gallons of fuel daily to customers from New York to Texas – is the largest pipeline for moving gas and diesel products in the US at 2.7 million miles.
The day after the attack, the FBI declared the ransomware variant behind the attack was DarkSide, who were later found to be a Russian group. It was also found the group had demanded a $4.4m ransom payment, which Colonial paid in full. However, the US Department of Justice recently revealed it had recovered the ‘majority’ of the ransom payment back to Colonial.
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