US companies targeted in Russian-linked cyber-attack

200 US businesses have been targeted by Russian-linked cyber-criminal groups in a “colossal” ransomware attack, a cyber-security firm announced on Friday.

Huntress Labs said the attack hit Florida-based IT company Kaseya and spread through its corporate networks that use its software.

Kaseya said it was investigating a “potential attack”. Russia-linked hackers REvil were the perpetrators of the hack, Huntress Labs said.

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“This is a colossal and devastating supply chain attack,” a senior security researcher at Huntress Labs said in an email to Reuters news agency.

In a statement, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency was taking action against the breach.

News of the attack broke on Friday afternoon just as companies in the US were heading into the long Independence Day weekend.

The attack is the latest in a string of breaches blamed on cyber-criminal groups with alleged ties to Russia.

REvil was blamed by the FBI for a hack last month that downed operations at JBS – the world’s largest meat supplier.

It was also blamed for an attack on nearly two dozen local governments in Texas in 2019.