President Biden warned on Monday that Russia was exploring the possibility of conducting potential cyberattacks against the United States in retaliation for economic penalties imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement released days before he was due to travel to Brussels for a NATO summit, Mr. Biden encouraged private companies in the United States to increase cybersecurity against potential Russian breaches.
“It’s part of the Russian textbook,” Biden said in the statement. “Today, my administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks.”
According to Anne Neuberger, Biden’s deputy national security adviser on cyber and emerging technologies.
This is not the first time the US has warned that Russia could attack US companies as the war rages in Ukraine. Neuberger said Monday’s warning was an attempt by the Biden administration to raise awareness of Russia’s ability to launch a digital attack on American infrastructure.
Ms. Neuberger said the administration had recently observed “preparatory activity” for a possible attack on US infrastructure and shared that information with companies during a confidential meeting last week. Such activity may include scanning web pages for security holes. Ms. Neuberger made it clear that there was still an active threat of Russian attacks on critical infrastructure, including oil, gas and energy companies as well as hospital systems.
“We need to do a lot more to be confident that we have locked our digital doors, especially for the critical services Americans rely on,” Ms. Neuberger said. , while noting that most of America’s critical infrastructure is managed by the private sector. “Those owners and operators have the ability and responsibility to strengthen the systems and networks we all rely on.”
The White House last week briefed more than 100 companies in the United States on the best ways to defend against a cyberattack. The administration on Monday directed companies to “strengthen your cyber defenses immediately,” recommending measures such as enabling multi-factor authentication, ensuring offline data backups and education. Educate employees on hacking methods.
“You have the power, capacity, and responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of the critical services and technologies that Americans rely on,” Biden said in the statement.
Ms. Neuberger noted that Russia is still conducting cyber-hacking operations against Ukraine. Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, in mid-February, said in mid-February that a cyberattack that month targeted the websites of Ukraine’s defense and military ministries, as well as communications representatives of the country’s two largest banks, “carrying traces of foreign intelligence services.”
