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President Biden warned on Monday that Russia is exploring the possibility of potential cyberattacks against the United States in retaliation for the economic penalties imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement days before traveling to Brussels for a NATO summit, Mr. Biden encouraged private sector companies in the US to strengthen their cybersecurity in case of a possible breach by Russia.
“This is part of Russia’s playbook,” Biden said in a statement. “Today, my administration reiterates these warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks.”
The administration has no evidence of a specific, credible potential cyberattack against the US, but there is “prep activity” targeting more critical infrastructure. Anne Neuberger, Biden’s deputy national security adviser in charge of cyber and emerging technology.
This isn’t the first time the US has warned that Russia could hack US companies as the war in Ukraine escalates. Neuberger said Monday’s warning was an attempt by the Biden administration to raise awareness of Russia’s ability to carry out a digital attack against American infrastructure.
Neuberger said the administration had recently observed “preparatory activity” for possible hacking of American infrastructure and shared that information with the companies at a confidential briefing last week. Such activities may include scanning websites for vulnerabilities. Ms Neuberger made it clear that there is still an active threat of Russian piracy against critical infrastructure, including oil and energy companies and hospital systems.
“We still have a lot more to do to trust that we lock our digital doors, especially for the critical services that Americans rely on,” Neuberger said, noting that most American critical infrastructure is privately managed. “These owners and operators have the ability and responsibility to solidify the systems and networks we all rely on.”
Last week, the White House briefed more than 100 companies in the United States on the best ways to protect against a cyberattack. On Monday, management directed companies to “immediately strengthen your cyber defenses,” recommending measures such as enabling multi-factor authentication, ensuring offline backups of data, and educating employees on hacking methods.
“You have the power, capacity, and responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of critical services and technologies Americans trust,” Biden said in a statement.
Neuberger noted that Russia still carries out cyber activity against Ukraine. Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said in mid-February that a cyberattack on the websites of Ukraine’s defense ministry and army, as well as the interfaces of the country’s two largest banks, “bears traces of foreign intelligence services”.
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