Cybersecurity
People with experience in U.S. hacking operations say they expect both Washington and Moscow to show caution in how they wield their digital weapons.
U.S. Cyber Command, launched in 2010 as part of the Defense Department, hacks networks for offensive operations related to battle. | Patrick Semansky, File/AP Photo
By Kim Zetter
03/12/2022 07:00 AM EST
Updated: 03/12/2022 12:24 PM EST
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The CIA and NSA have spent years burrowing into Russia’s critical computer networks to collect intelligence — and acquire access that President Joe Biden could seize on to order destructive cyberattacks on Vladimir Putin’s regime.
But for now, the United States’ most likely approach is to tread slowly and carefully toward any cyber conflict with Russia, three experts with experience in U.S. hacking operations told POLITICO — while hoping the Russians do the same.
Fears of cyber warfare between the two former Cold War rivals have become a recurring concern amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prompting Biden to warn that he would “respond the same way” to any hostile hacking from Moscow against the United States. But people with experience in U.S. cyber strategy say neither side is likely to leap to destructive attacks as a first move — and any hard punch would be preceded by warnings and signals.