Obama ordered use of ‘digital bombs’ against Russia
Cyber implants in Moscow network were retaliation against hacking of last year’s presidential election
THE United States is planting “digital bombs” in Russia’s infrastructure in response to the hacking of last year’s presidential election.
Former president Barack Obama authorised the “implants” of cyber weapons in the final weeks of his administration and gave US intelligence agencies the power to deploy them in retaliation against any future Russian cyber attack, according to The Washington Post.
The covert programme was de- scribed as “the digital equivalent of bombs that could be detonated if the US found itself in an escalating exchange with Moscow”.
It also emerged that Mr Obama had received a top-secret memo in August, couriered directly to him by the CIA, detailing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s direct involvement in cyber efforts to disrupt the election.
The memo contained details of instructions Mr Putin gave to ensure the defeat of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, The Washington Post claims.
Only weeks earlier, the publication by Wikileaks of emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee proved damaging to Mrs Clinton’s campaign.
Mr Obama and his administration looked at various responses before the election including a retaliatory cyber strike, the publishing of its intelligence about Mr Putin and crippling economic sanctions on Moscow.
However, Mr Obama was concerned that he might be perceived to be attempting to influence the election in favour of party colleague Mrs Clinton.
One Obama administration official told The Washington Post: “I feel like we sort of choked. It is the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend.”
The covert digital bombs programme involves the NSA, CIA and US Cyber Command and was reportedly a long-term operation with the process of setting it up still under way.
A US official told the newspaper that the “implants” were being put in computer networks that were “important to the adversary and that would cause them pain and discomfort if they were disrupted”.
Intelligence agencies would be able to trigger them without Mr Trump’s authorisation.
In a statement, Mr Obama’s spokesman said his response to the Russian meddling had been “robust... as is evident by [him] raising this issue directly with President Putin”.