Cyber-attack constitutes grave risk to national security: US President-elect Biden

recent cybersecurity breach against US companies constitutes a grave risk to national security, President-elect Joe Biden has said, alleging that Trump ministration failed to prevent it. Recently, US officials said that multiple federal ncies were targeted in a sophisticated, months-long cybersecurity attack. massive breach, which is termed as one of biggest ever cyber-attacks in US, is being blamed on Russia. Commenting on breach, Biden described it as a major challenge that his ministration will confront on a bipartisan basis.

“re's still so much we don't kw including full scope of breach or extent of dam it has caused, but we kw this much, this attack constitutes a grave risk to our national security who carefully planned and carefully orchestrated,” Biden told reporters at a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday.

cyberattack was carried out by using sophisticated cyber tools, and attacker succeeded in catching federal government off guard and unprepared, he said. “Foreign actors have been working on this breach since last -- late last year, at least last year setting landscape to compromise our systems, scraping up sensitive information from our world-class tech sector and from private businesses and from United States government ncies,” Biden said.

“ truth is this, Trump ministration failed to prioritise cybersecurity, it did that from eliminating or downgring cyber coordinators in both White House and at State Department, firing of director of Cyber, , and Infrastructure Security ncy, to President Trump's irrational downplaying of seriousness of this attack.

“Eugh is eugh. In an when so much of our lives are conducted online, cyber-attacks must be treated as a serious threat by our leership at highest levels,” he said.

This cant be let go unanswered, Biden said, ding that means making clear and publicly who was responsible for attack and taking meaningful steps to hold m in account. Initial indications, including from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr, suggest that Russia is responsible for this breach, he said.

“It certainly Russia's long history of reckless, destructive cyber activities, but Trump ministration needs to make an official attribution. This assault happened on Donald Trump's watch when he wasn't watching. It is still his responsibility as president to defend American interest for next four weeks but rest assured that even if he does t take it seriously, I will,” Biden said.

ting that he is disappointed by Trump’s response, Biden said he was pleased to see leers in both parties in Congress speak out loudly and clearly on this attack. “Again, I want to thank prominent Republicans in Senate particularly for speaking out. It's a sign, a sign that with a new ministration, we can confront se threats on a bipartisan basis with a united front here at home. That should be encouraging to American people and a warning to our versaries,” he said.

Responding to a question, Biden said that dam done remains to be determined. “We have to look at very closely nature of breaches, how extensive y are, and what dam has been done. And thirdly, re's going to be a necessity as (former) president (Barack) Obama and I and our ministration talked about, we need international rules of ro on cyber security. “We have to bring along our allies and our friends so we hold everyone accountable if it breaches any of se basic fundamental rules,” he ded. 

(Im Credits: AP)