Biden said at the G7 summit on Sunday that he was “open” to Putin’s proposal for the two countries to exchange cybercriminals: The comments immediately sparked concern that Biden would consider extraditing US hackers to Russia if Moscow did the same for Washington. [Read: Why entrepreneurship in emerging markets matters] However, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said later that the president was not contemplating a “prisoner swap:” Biden’s remarks may have been another of his legendary verbal missteps, but cybercrime will be a significant topic of discussion when the two premiers meet in Geneva on June 16. The Biden administration has already imposed sanctions against Moscow over the country’s alleged 2020 election interference and cyberattacks. The White House also recently linked Russia to the attack against global meat processing giant JBS. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday that the “issue of ransomware attacks” would be discussed during the Geneva meeting. Biden, however, might be a bit more careful this time about discussing the exchange of cybercriminals.
