US President Joe Biden has said he is considering possible retaliation after the White House linked Russia to a cyberattack on global meat-processing giant JBS.

The statement comes as the president prepares to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Geneva later this month.

The ransomware attack on a US subsidiary of Brazil-owned JBS has again sparked accusations that Russia is at least harboring cybercriminals.

Similar suspicions were raised after hackers forced a temporary shutdown of the massive Colonial fuel pipeline in the eastern United States last month.

Asked by a journalist if he would take action against Mr. Putin, the US president said “we are closely examining this issue.”

Mr Biden also denied the suggestion that he was being tested by the Russian president ahead of their meeting.

On Wednesday, the FBI attributed the attack to “REvil and Sodinokibi,” which experts say are two names for the same hacking group with ties to Russia.

The FBI said it was “working diligently to bring threat actors to justice.”

“We continue to focus our efforts on the imposition of risks and consequences and on the accountability of responsible cyber actors,” said a statement.

The White House has said Biden will raise US concerns at the June 16 summit, as well as at previous summits with G7, European Union and NATO allies.

“We expect this to be a topic of discussion throughout the president’s trip,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

“Hosting criminal entities who intend to harm, who harm critical infrastructure in the United States, is not acceptable.

“We’re not going to stick with it. We’re going to increase it and we’re not going to take options off the table.”

The White House has not directly blamed the Kremlin, only suggesting that criminal groups are operating from inside Russia.

But Ms Psaki said that “responsible states do not harbor” cybercriminals.

“President Biden certainly believes that President Putin and the Russian government have a role to play in stopping and preventing these attacks. Therefore, it will be a topic of discussion when they meet,” she said. declared.

Russia has said it will be open to any request for US help in the investigation of the cyberattack.

JBS is a sprawling meat supplier with operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

The company said Thursday that the vast majority of its beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods plants would be operating “at full capacity.”

JBS said in a statement that it “is not aware of any evidence at this time that a customer, supplier or employee data has been compromised.”

AFP