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The two cyberattacks that both appear to be of Russian origin present a major test for the relationship between Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, just one month after the two leaders met in Geneva.

The New York Times notes:

The newest attacks appeared to cross many lines that Mr. Biden has said he would no longer tolerate. On the campaign trail last year, he put Russia ‘on notice’ that, as president, he would respond aggressively to counter any interference in American elections. Then in April, he called Mr. Putin to warn him about impending economic sanctions in response to the SolarWinds breach. …

The issue has become so urgent that it has begun shifting the negotiations between Washington and Moscow, raising the control of digital weapons to a level of urgency previously seen largely in nuclear arms control negotiations.

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Even as Joe Biden meets with senior advisers to discuss the Kaseya attack, new details are coming out about yet another cyberattack.

Bloomberg News broke the news yesterday that Russian state hackers breached the computer systems of the Republican National Committee last week.

The government hackers were part of a group known as APT 29 or Cozy Bear, according to the people. That group has been tied to Russia’s foreign intelligence service and has previously been accused of breaching the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and of carrying out a supply-chain cyberattack involving SolarWinds Corp., which infiltrated nine U.S. government agencies and was disclosed in December.

It’s not known what data the hackers viewed or stole, if anything.

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Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

Joe Biden will hold a meeting this morning with key interagency leaders to discuss the administration’s response to the latest ransomware attack.

Hackers last week infiltrated a Florida-based information technology firm and deployed a ransomware attack, seizing troves of data and demanding $70m in payment for its return.

The hack of the Kaseya firm, which is already being called ‘the biggest ransomware attack on record’, has affected hundreds of businesses globally, including supermarkets in Sweden and schools in New Zealand. …

Continue reading…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden

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