White House press secretary Jen Psaki is asked at Wednesday's press briefing about Russian hacking ahead of a bilateral meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. <blockquote>QUESTION: And just one more on this topic, because the Russians are outlining some of the things they would also like to discuss during the summit. The foreign minister, Lavrov, indicated that Russia wants to be discussing the human rights violations in the U.S., saying they’re following with interest the persecution of those persons who are accused of the riots on January 6 this year. I’m wondering what you make of that. Where do you think this is coming from? JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE: Well, we don’t use the Russian government as our guide to human rights models in the world. But I will say that the President has not held back in his view that the attacks on January 6th were a mark on democracy, were a dark day in our own democracy. And certainly, I’m sure he’d be happy to repeat that. But the President’s view is that there are a range of topics that we should be discussing in this meeting. We’ll have more to preview for it, probably in the days in advance of this summit, including on — his agenda is, of course, these cyberattacks and the use of ransomware, harboring criminal entities in your own country; also is their aggressive actions in Ukraine; and also is — are areas where there can be an opportunity to work together, including nuclear capabilities and security. So, lots to discuss. Go ahead. Q Just to put a fine point on this very quickly: Is it President Biden’s view that President Putin can stop these attacks, these hacks, from occurring if he wanted to? MS. PSAKI: Well, I would say the President — President Biden certainly thinks that President Putin and the Russian government has a role to play in stopping and preventing these attacks; hence, it’s a — it will be a topic of discussion when they meet in two weeks. Q Does the President believe that Vladimir Putin is testing him right now, ahead of the summit? MS. PSAKI: I’m not going to give any further analysis on that other than to tell you that our view is that when there are criminal entities within a country, they certainly have a responsibility, and it is a role that the government can play. And, again, that will be a discussion at the summit. Q Of all the threats that the White House has to juggle right now — and, of course, there are a lot — how high does ransomware fall on that list right now? Has it gone dramatically higher in the course of this administration? Does it need to be higher than it is right now? Where is it? MS. PSAKI: You know how I love rank ordering our focuses and our threats. (Laughs.) Q How — but it’s been growing dramatically, obviously. Right? MS. PSAKI: That is true. And I — Q This is now a bigger issue. MS. PSAKI: And, Peter, I just said that. I think that this is — this attack that we’ve seen over the last couple of days, and certainly following the attack that we saw several weeks ago, is also a reminder to the private sector about the need and the importance of hardening their own cybersecurity protections, of investing in and putting in place protections in their own systems. We have given guidance for some time, from the federal government, and it is up to a number of these private sector entities to protect themselves as well. Q The Steamship Authority in Massachusetts reports that they were just the victims of a hack. Has that been communicated to the White House? Are you involved? Do you have any comment or message, or anybody to attribute that to? MS. PSAKI: I have seen those reports. They — they just came out. Q They just reported it. Yeah. MS. PSAKI: Yes, exactly. I just don’t have anything more for you on it, but we can see if there’s more later this afternoon. Q All good. Last one, if I can, then. In March, we heard from the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. He came in here and told us that the U.S., “in the near future” — to his words — would name who’s responsible for the hack on the Microsoft Exchange. So can you tell us who that is — multiple — several months have passed — and what the holdup might be? MS. PSAKI: I’m happy to check with our national security team and see if they have an update. As you know, they are quite careful and thorough — I should say, “thorough” is probably the right word — in how they review and assess and provide public guidance. But we can see if there’s anything more they can report out. Q Is the prevailing theory still that it’s China? Or are you — can you not go any further than he did then? MS. PSAKI: I don’t think I have an update on it from what we’ve provided in the past. Q Thank you.</blockquote>