State Secy. Blinken reiterates claims of ‘Russian hackings,’ vows revenge

July 26, 2021 Amber Coakley US 0

Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as he and Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein face reporters as they meet at the State Department in Washington, Friday, July 23, 2021. (Elizabeth Frantz/Pool via AP)

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UPDATED 8:42 AM PT – Monday, July 26, 2021

According to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, cyber criminals will be held accountable for their actions. The Biden administration official has continued to accuse Russia of cyber crime over alleged recent hackings of U.S. companies.

In a recent interview, Blinken claimed Russia may be harboring cyber criminals. He said the new cyber crime task force will hold Russia and other countries to account.

“And what we’ve made clear to Russia, but to other countries around the world, is if you’re harboring individuals and organizations engaged in cyber crime, engaged in ransomware, that is unacceptable,” he stated.

Biden recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and stirred concerns of lawmakers back home when he told Putin which American targets he didn’t want attacked.

“I talked about the proposition that certain critical infrastructures should be off limits to attack, period, by cyber or any other means,” Biden stated. “I gave them a list, if I’m not mistaken…16 specific entities, 16 defined as critical infrastructure under U.S. policy. From the energy sector to our water systems.”

Joe Biden talks a tough game on Russia only to sit back as they hurl cyber-attacks at us.

Putin is eating our lunch.

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) July 6, 2021

Putin has denied any involvement in any of the hacks on U.S. systems.

“According to U.S. sources, the majority of cyber attacks in the world are performed from U.S. cyberspace,’ noted the Russian president. “The second one is Canada, then two Latin American states and then the U.K. Russia is not listed among the cyberspaces where the majority of cyber attacks come from.”

Even in his interview, Blinken appeared to concede that the hackers that have been linked to recent attacks may be operating within Russia’s borders, but not agents of the government itself.