CIA director brings up Russian hackers at talks in Moscow

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns raised the issue of Russian cyberattacks during a rare visit to Moscow, where he met high-ranking security officials, three sources told Reuters.

The trip follows a summit in Geneva in June where U.S. President Joe Biden pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to act against ransomware groups attacking companies and infrastructure in the United States, and Moscow publicly agreed to track down cyber criminals.

"Cybersecurity was one of the topics," a source close to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said, adding that Burns presented evidence of the involvement of Russian hackers in the attacks. A U.S. official familiar with intelligence activities and another Russian cybersecurity source confirmed that hacking was among the topics raised by Burns.