The US is planning a series of cyberattacks over the next three weeks on the internal systems of the Russian authorities in response to hacker attacks attributed to Russia through SolarWinds software. This is reported by The New York Times, citing sources in the American administration.
American “counterattacks” will not be obvious to the world, but the Russian leadership, intelligence and military will learn about them.
According to the source, the hacks will be accompanied by “economic sanctions”. US President Joe Biden intends to sign an executive order to strengthen the protection of government computer systems to prevent future cyberattacks, the publication found out.
Earlier it was reported that due to a vulnerability found in Microsoft software, a global crisis was predicted for the world. According to unofficial estimates, tens of thousands of companies can be infected with viruses or attacked to steal user and employee data, and some of them may not have noticed these actions of cybercriminals.
In December 2020, Reuters reported that Russian hackers allegedly carried out an attack on the US Department of Homeland Security and gained access to internal communications in the department. At the same time, the attack was noticed only after almost a year – after about nine months. The attack was part of a campaign that also hacked into the systems of the US Treasury and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Moscow denies accusations of hacker attacks on American departments and considers them unfounded.