Following a formal-written statement on Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely to use cyber attacks as a form of retaliation against the United States for its actions to counter Russia’s invasion throughout this seemingly inextinguishable conflict while speaking at the Business Roundtable Quarterly Meeting in Washington yesterday.
Joe Biden told business leaders the national interest is at stake, suggesting that it’s “a patriotic obligation that you invest as much as you can in making sure — and we will help in any way — that you have built up your technological capacity to deal with cyber attacks.” While the Biden administration has been warning the country about the possibility of Russian cyberattacks for months, they believe that there is an increased threat due to the endless anger coming from Russia in response to the overwhelming sanctions being brought against them by countries worldwide.
The details of just exactly what kind of ‘evolving intelligence’ has yet to be made known to the public as of today. Anne Neuberger, White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said Monday that after detecting “preparatory activity” by Russia, which she said could include scanning websites and hunting for software vulnerabilities. However, it’s important to note that she also said that there was currently no evidence of any specific threat.
Countries and companies watching this latest chapter unfold should remember this: The online front of the war can — and has — jumped borders. The preventative actions being taken by the Biden administration express to all countries and companies that the online front of the war can have, and will, jump borders. Neuberger told CNN during Monday’s briefing, that the Biden Administration “hosted classified briefings with companies and sectors we felt would be most effective and provided very practical, focused advice,” last week.
The decision to “sound the alarm” comes months following raised suspicions of Russian cyberattacks on the US. This exemplifies the uneasiness of the Biden Administration as to what Putin does next as it becomes increasingly clear his invasion of Ukraine is not going as expected. US officials have been talking about how the state of Russia’s ground campaign might influence Putin’s thinking and what options are being evaluated in Russia. They believe that as a result of Russia’s current status, the situation is more unpredictable than ever before.
