Russia, U.S. Reach 'Consensus' on JBS, Colonial Pipeline Cyberattacks: Russian Foreign Minister

Russia and the United States have reached a ‘consensus,’ on the issue of recent cyberattacks on U.S. based Colonial Pipeline and meat supplier, JBS Foods, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said today.

While Colonial Pipeline had to halt its operations for a few days causing gasoline shortage in the U.S., JBS Foods’ operations were briefly affected in Australia, Brazil and a couple of other countries.

"In the end, a consensus was found in both cases, although earlier our Western partners had objections. I have reasons to hope that this will help to develop bilateral dialogue. But the most important thing is to conduct the dialogue professionally, and not for show," Lavrov said.

The U.S. media initially blamed it on Russian intelligence based on briefings by anonymous intelligence officials, but later on changed it Russia-based cybercriminals.

The minister added that Russia wants to set up a dialogue in the cybersphere with the U.S. "We do not stop trying. In September last year, President of Russia Vladimir Putin issued a statement on how we would see U.S.-Russian cooperation in developing a comprehensive program of measures to restore cooperation in this area," he added.

Lavrov said he hopes to see Russia’s proposal be substantively discussed at the summit of the presidents of Russia and the United States on June 16 in Geneva.

Colonial Pipeline was hit by a ransomware cyber-attack in early May. DarkSide, a cyber-criminal gang claimed responsibility for the attack.

U.S. intelligence services say DarkSide may be based on the territory of Russia or Eastern Europe but is not associated with any government.

American company JBS believes a criminal organization, allegedly located in Russia, is behind the attack on its computer networks.