Under pressure to end the ransomware scourge, the White House faces strong headwinds. The problem: Putin has no motivation to change the status quo.

As the United States comes out of yet another major attack by a Russian ransomware gang, this one leveled at Florida-based software provider Kaseya by the REvil threat group, the administration is ramping up its rhetoric about holding Russia responsible for the criminal actions taking place within its borders. During a recent press briefing White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that a “high level” of U.S. national security has been in touch with top Russian officials about the Kaseya attack. She also said that another ransomware-focused meeting between the two countries is scheduled for next week.

Psaki also passed on a warning to Russia. “As the president made clear to President Putin , if the Russian government cannot or will not take action against criminal actors residing in Russia, we will reserve the right to take action on our own.”

The next day, Biden called together his top advisors, including key players from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, for a ransomware strategy session in the White House Situation Room. It’s not clear yet what the brainstorming produced, but the pressure is on the administration to end the ransomware scourge.

Crowdstrike co-founder and former CTO Dmitri Alperovitch and Russia expert and Director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute Matthew Rojansky penned an op-ed urging Biden to give Russian President Vladimir Putin an ultimatum on ransomware. “If Putin chose to take the problem seriously, as Biden demands, Russian security officials could quickly identify and interdict the attackers and force them to unlock the data to stop the damage to businesses worldwide, including in the United States,” they wrote.

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