With Donald Trump silent, reprisals for hacks may fall to Joe Biden

In this file photo taken on August 20, 2020, Former vice-president and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and Senator from California and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris greet supporters outside the Chase Center in Wilmington

All fingers are pointing to Russia as the source of the worst-ever hack of US government agencies. But President Donald Trump, long wary of blaming Moscow for cyberattacks, has so far been silent.

The lack of any statement seeking to hold Russia responsible casts doubt on the likelihood of a swift response and suggests any retaliation - whether through sanctions, criminal charges or cyber actions - will be left in the hands of President-elect Joe Biden-s incoming administration."I would imagine that the incoming administration wants a menu of what the options are and then is going to choose," said Sarah Mendelson, a Carnegie Mellon University public policy professor and former US ambassador to the UN-s Economic and Social Council.

"Is there a graduated assault? Is there an all-out assault? How much out of the gate do you want to do?"

Accumulating evidence

To be sure, it-s not uncommon for administrations to refrain from levelling public accusations of blame for hacks until they-ve accumulated enough evidence. Here, US officials say they only recently became aware of devastating breaches at multiple government agencies in which foreign intelligence agents rooted around undetected for nine months.

Watching Trumps- response

But Trump-s response, or lack thereof, is being closely watched because of his preoccupation with a fruitless effort to overturn the results of last month-s election and because of his refusal to publicly acknowledge that Russian hackers interfered in the 2016 presidential election in his favour.

Exactly what action Biden might take is unclear, or how his response might be shaped by criticism that the Obama administration did not act aggressively enough to thwart interference in 2016. He offered clues on Thursday, saying his administration would be proactive in preventing cyberattacks and impose costs on any adversaries behind them.

The hack

Elite cyber spies injected malicious code into the software of a firm that provides network services. The civilian cybersecurity agency warned on Thursday that the hack posed a "grave risk" to government and private networks.

Keep scrolling to read more news

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel @middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news