According to Russian insiders, after only a few months of cybersecurity talks, Moscow and Washington were able to restart cooperation in sectors that had been dormant for many years. As a consequence, the cyber organizations Evil Corp., TrickBot, and REvil have been targeted. Nonetheless, despite improvements, US officials continue to advocate for joint cyber-pressure on Russia.
Interaction on information security problems between Russia and the United States was halted in 2014 due to the war in Ukraine. However, many knowledgeable Russian sources told Kommersant that the situation has lately altered dramatically. According to reports, the parties have made progress in three areas during the last three months.
First, a regular expert conversation was restarted, with at least four rounds of bilateral talks recorded. Second, the contact was reestablished under the terms of the 1999 US-Russia Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Cases.
As a consequence, the US supplied documents for the criminal procedural suppression of the operations of a number of worldwide cyber organizations, including Evil Corp., TrickBot, and REvil.
Third, a source informed the newspaper that “contacts between the national centers for reacting to computer incidents, which had previously been neglected by the US, had been activated.” According to Kommersant sources, the primary outcome of this methodical effort was “the establishment of channels for bilateral contact.”
However, US officials have been very circumspect in their remarks about the outcomes of talks with their Russian counterparts. US National Cyber Director Chris Inglis said that there have been fewer assaults on US resources by Russian hacking organizations in recent months, but that the US is not sure that this trend will continue.
