President Biden on Monday warned that there is “evolving intelligence” to suggest that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks against the United States, amid its multi-front war against Ukraine, and urged the private sector to “immediately” harden “cyber defenses.”
In a statement Monday, the president said this is “a critical moment to accelerate our work to improve domestic cybersecurity and bolster our national resilience.”
The Biden administration has been warning about the potential for “malicious cyber activity” against the United States by the Russian government—which Biden said could be a response to the “unprecedented economic costs we’ve imposed on Russia alongside our allies and partners. It’s part of Russia’s playbook.”
“Today, my Administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks,” Biden said Monday.
The Biden administration has been working to “strengthen” US national cyber defenses, and has mandated “extensive cybersecurity measures for the Federal Government and those critical infrastructure sectors where we have authority to do so.”
The president on Monday also stressed that the administration has created “public-private partnerships and initiatives to enhance cybersecurity across all our critical infrastructure.”
“Congress has partnered with us on these efforts — we appreciate that Members of Congress worked across the aisle to require companies to report cyber incidents to the United States Government,” Biden said.
“My Administration will continue to use every tool to deter, disrupt, and if necessary, respond to cyberattacks against critical infrastructure,” the president said Monday, but said the “Federal Government can’t defend against this threat alone.”
“Most of America’s critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector and critical infrastructure owners and operators must accelerate efforts to lock their digital doors,” Biden said. ” The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been actively working with organizations across critical infrastructure to rapidly share information and mitigation guidance to help protect their systems and networks.”
The president urged private sector partners to “harden your cyber defenses immediately by implementing the best practices we have developed together over the last year.”