US President Joe Biden warned Tuesday that if the United States ends up waging a "real shooting war" with "great power" it could be the result of a cyberattack in the country and this highlights what Washington sees as a growing threat, caused by Russia and China.
As Reuters reported Wednesday (28/07), cybersecurity has been high on the Biden administration's agenda after a series of high-profile attacks against entities such as network management firm SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline, meat processing firm JBS and software firm Kaseya cost the US far more than just a hacked company.
Some of these attacks affected fuel and food supplies in several US states.
"I think it's very likely that we're going to end, if we end up in a war - a real shooting war with great force - that will be a consequence of cyber breaches with huge and rapidly increasing consequences, of that," Biden stated in a half-hour speech while visiting Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
During a June 16 summit in Geneva between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden shared a list of critical infrastructure that the US considers off-limits to nation-state actors.
Since then, senior members of the Biden administration's national security team have been in constant contact with senior members of the Kremlin about cyber attacks on the United States, the White House said.
Biden also highlighted the threat posed by China, referring to President Xi Jinping who could be "very serious about becoming the most powerful military power in the world, as well as the world's largest and most prominent economy in the mid-40s, 2040s."