Democrat Joe Biden called on the incumbent head of the White House to "publicly declare" the culprit in "a massive series of cyberattacks on American companies and federal agencies."

“We cannot leave this unanswered.

That is (it is necessary. -

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) to publicly declare who is responsible for this cyberattack, and to take effective steps to bring these people to justice, "he said during his speech in Wilmington, Delaware.

Biden also drew attention to the statements of representatives of the current administration that the Russian side was allegedly involved in the hacker attack.

“Based on the initial data, in particular provided by the Secretary of State (Mike. -

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) Pompeo and Attorney General (William. -

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) Barr, the responsibility for the cyber hack lies with Russia, which, of course, is in line with the long-standing course of Russia's actions regarding reckless subversion cyberspace.

But the Trump administration needs to officially indicate this, ”he stressed.

As Biden noted, the incumbent president's responsibilities "continue to protect American interests for the next four weeks."

"But I assure you: even if he does not take this (the cyber attack. -

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) seriously, I will do it," said the representative of the Democratic Party.

According to him, the United States should, in cooperation with its allies, "develop clear international rules, as well as mechanisms to enforce them and respond to those who violate them."

“We still do not know much, including the scale of the cyber hack and the amount of damage caused, but we understand that these cyber attacks pose a serious threat to our national security.

They were carefully planned and organized.

They were carried out using sophisticated cybertools.

The attackers managed to catch the federal authorities by surprise, ”Biden said.

As Reuters reported on December 20, citing sources, Biden's entourage is discussing the possibility of applying sanctions against Russia due to the cyberattack attributed to it.

There was talk about a retaliatory attack on Russian computer systems, the agency noted.

  • Biden's Transition Team Symbols

  • © REUTERS / Carlo Allegri

The situation around cyber hacking

Recall, at first, the American media reported about cyber attacks on the infrastructure of US government departments.

On December 13, Reuters, citing sources, reported that "hackers allegedly working for Russia are monitoring internal email traffic at the US Treasury and Commerce Departments."

As noted by the agency, the scale of the hack was so serious that a meeting of the United States National Security Council was organized on December 12.

According to The Washington Post, which also cited sources, "hackers acting on the orders of the Russian authorities hacked into the computer systems of the US Treasury and Commerce Departments, as well as other US government departments, as part of a multi-month global spy campaign."

The publication also noted that "a group of Russian hackers known as APT29, or Cozy Bear, is part of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)."

However, none of these articles contained any evidence.

Later, on December 16, the office of the US Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint statement, which reported a "significant cyber incident" affecting the computer networks of the US federal government.

It clarifies that the hackers were able to break into American government systems thanks to a vulnerability in the software company SolarWinds.

Two days after the publication of this message, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during an interview on a radio broadcast by journalist Mark Levin, accused Russia of cyber attacks on American departments.  

“Suffice it to say that significant efforts have been made to use some third-party software to actually inject the code into US government systems, as well as - from what is known so far - into the systems of private companies and other companies and governments around the world.

Serious efforts have been made, and I think that now we can quite unequivocally say that it was the Russians who were doing this, ”Pompeo said.

However, the very next day after the statement of the Secretary of State, the incumbent head of the White House, Donald Trump, assured that "in the media publishing fake news, the cyberattack was inflated to a much larger scale than it actually is."

“I was fully informed, everything is under control.

Russia, Russia, Russia - this is the first chant as soon as something happens, because the mainstream media, mainly for financial reasons, are afraid to discuss the possibility that it could be China (and he could!) ", - Trump wrote on Twitter ...

  • US President Donald Trump

  • © REUTERS / Carlos Barria

Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of cyber attacks on the United States.

So, on December 21, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov once again stressed that the Russian Federation has nothing to do with this. 

“Russia is not involved in such attacks, and in particular in this one.

We declare this officially and decisively, "Peskov said.

According to him, "any accusations of Russia's involvement are absolutely unfounded and are more likely a continuation of the blind Russophobia, which is resorted to in any incident."

Earlier, Dmitry Peskov recalled that it was Russian President Vladimir Putin who proposed the American side to agree and conclude an agreement on cooperation in the field of cybersecurity and information security, but the initiative of the Russian leader "did not receive a response in the United States."

"We need to promote the topic"

As political scientist Alexander Asafov noted in a conversation with RT, for Biden "it is important to consolidate in the public consciousness of Americans a far-fetched story related to the fact that Russia is allegedly to blame for cybercrimes against the United States."

“Therefore, he exaggerates the thesis that supposedly all malicious actions that take place in cyberspace come from the Russian Federation,” the analyst said.

Biden "needs to promote this topic in order to preserve the image of Russia as an enemy, including in cyberspace," Asafov said.

“It is for this reason that the democrat draws special attention to all hacking attempts, while blaming Russia and the elusive Russian hackers,” the expert said.

At the same time, for Trump and his administration "it is fundamental to prove that China is not only an economic competitor, but also the most terrible threat to the United States," Asafov believes.

According to the expert, Biden is afraid that Trump, leaving, may try to reopen the case of hacking the Democratic Party server in order to prove the guilt of the Democrats themselves, and not Russia.

“Therefore, Biden is now trying to shift the focus of attention, actually stating that the Russian Federation is a cyber threat to the United States,” Asafov said.

Director of the Institute for the USA and Canada Valery Garbuzov, in turn, predicted that the situation around the sensational story with the hacking of American departments "will be unleashed by representatives of the Democratic Party."

The analyst did not rule out that an investigation could be initiated.

“There will probably be hearings in Congress, in one or two of its chambers.

Intelligence leaders will be invited on the basis of and during these hearings.

They will give evidence, on the basis of which the corresponding report will be prepared.

As a result, bills may appear on the introduction of new sanctions against Russia or individual sanctions against those persons who, according to the United States, are responsible for cyberattacks on American infrastructure, "the analyst explained in a conversation with RT.

  • USA congress

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Xinhua / Liu Jie

According to Asafov, based on the results of such an investigation, Biden may decide not only on anti-Russian restrictions, but also on the use of cyber weapons against Russia.

"The United States, in this case, may try to strike at Russia's vital infrastructure," the analyst said.

However, Asafov stressed that such a scenario is extremely unlikely in the near term.

“Now there will be no such actions, only a large-scale media campaign will follow to strengthen the image of Russia as a dangerous threat.

One should not expect any serious foreign policy actions, we will only hear the indignation of the democrats, ”the expert concluded.