The Russian government actively protects and harbors hackers and ransomware extortionists operating from inside the country, the US Justice department's top national security official John Demers said Wednesday. "There is a lot of ransomware activity that is coming from Russian borders, which isn't being conducted by Russian government officials, but is being tolerated by the Russian government," Demers told a conference held by the Cyberscoop media group. "They're not just tolerating this; they are actively getting in the way of US law enforcement efforts to combat this type of hacking," he said. Demers made the allegation just as US President Joe Biden was meeting in Geneva with Russian President Vladimir Putin. pmh/bgs