Senate panel chief says U.S. must retaliate for cyberattack
WASHINGTON — Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee, vowed that the U.S. will retaliate for a huge, ongoing cyberattack that has compromised private companies and government agencies — including the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
On Friday, Rubio tweeted that “the methods used to carry out the cyberhack are consistent with Russian cyber operations,” though he stopped short of directly accusing the Russians.
“But it’s crucial we have complete certainty about who is behind this,” Rubio said. “We can’t afford to be wrong on attribution, because America must retaliate, and not just with sanctions.”
Rubio’s comments come as President Donald Trump, who has shied away from blaming Russia for both cyberattacks and election interference, has not commented on the breach. The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that the attacks began in March and are the work of “a patient, well-resourced and focused adversary.”
On Friday, Rubio’s office said the senator has been in contact with administration officials about the attack, which Rubio says is ongoing. During a Thursday night interview on Fox News, Rubio said the cyberattack comes close to an act of war.
“I would imagine that the incoming administration [of President-elect Joe Biden] wants a menu of what the options are and then is going to choose,” said Sarah Mendelson, a Carnegie Mellon University public policy professor and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council. “Is there a graduated assault? Is there an all-out assault? How much out of the gate do you want to do?”
David Simon, a cybersecurity expert and former Defense Department special counsel, said there must be consequences for those responsible for such attacks — and the Trump administration “has fallen far short in holding the
Kremlin accountable.”
“Until it’s clear the U.S. will impose meaningful costs on adversaries,” he said, “a material change in the Kremlin’s behavior is not likely to be seen.”
“We can totally melt down their home networks,” said Jason Healey, a Columbia University cyberconflict scholar. “And any time we see their operators popping up, they know that we are going to go after them, wherever they are.”
“This isn’t just a tit-for-tat or hacking back into their systems,” Mendelson said. “It’s, ‘We’re going to go for what you really care about, and what you really care about is the funds that are stashed, and revealing the larger network and how it’s connected to the Kremlin.’”
‘GRAVE RISK’
Hackers breached SolarWinds, a software vendor, and disguised their attacks through software updates issued by the company, which works with thousands of government agencies and private companies.
But the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, said Thursday that the attack is even larger in scope and has compromised online networks that never accessed software that was used to facilitate the attacks.
“CISA has determined that this threat poses a grave risk to the Federal Government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations,” the agency said. “CISA expects that removing this threat actor from compromised environments will be highly complex and challenging for organizations.”
Multiple federal agencies, including the Commerce and Energy departments, have publicly acknowledged that hackers were able to access some of their networks. On Thursday, the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nuclear weapons stockpile, said the attack was isolated to the agency’s business networks and any compromised software was disconnected from its network.
LAWMAKERS BRIEFED
Multiple cybersecurity experts have accused Russia of being behind the attack. The Russian government has denied involvement.
On Friday, the House was briefed. While some Democrats and Republicans complained that the classified briefing didn’t supply them with new details, they agreed that the attack is serious.
“The situation is developing, but the more I learn, this could be our modern-day, cyber equivalent of Pearl Harbor,” Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow tweeted after the briefing.
Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal, who were briefed Tuesday in a classified Armed Services Committee session, were unequivocal in blaming Russia.
Thomas Bossert, Trump’s former homeland security adviser, wrote this week in a New York Times opinion piece that “the United States, and ideally its allies, must publicly and formally attribute responsibility for these hacks.”
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said it was “extraordinary” that the White House has not spoken out.
However, although Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has acknowledged that Russia consistently tries to penetrate American servers, this week he quickly pivoted to threats from China and North Korea.
And speaking to reporters Friday, Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow did not commit to blaming the Kremlin, saying, “People are saying Russia. I don’t know that. It could be other countries.”