Cyber security analysts are warning of new threats against the United States with one former Defense Intelligence Agency officer sounding an alarm saying an “incompetent” government is unprepared for what may lie ahead.
Rebekah Koffler, author of the book, Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America. says Russia, not China may pose the greatest overall threat.
On this week’s episode of The Global Lane, Koffler said Russian cyberattacks are just one prong of a multi-phased strategy designed to destabilize and defeat the United States.
Earlier this year, a group of independent hackers based in Russia known as ‘DarkSide’ extorted money from the Colonial Pipeline and JBS companies after breaching their computer networks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denied his government was involved in those cyberattacks, but Koffler suggested otherwise.
“It’s classic Russian intelligence tradecraft to use third parties to perform operations that advance the goals of the Russian government,” she explained.
So, if the so-called independent hackers are directed by Putin’s government, how does Russia benefit–what is Putin hoping to accomplish?
Putin would not direct cyber teams to target the U.S. power grid for attack during a time of peace, said Koffler. His strategy is only to exfiltrate data and information in order to “prepare the battlespace” for a future war. She said he also wants to destabilize American society.
“When our companies are attacked and they pay ransom and these attacks cause shortages where they are in our meat and in our burger supply or in our gasoline, that weakens our society and undermines it, Koffler explained. “But during wartime, you better believe it. The Russians have a doctrine that cyber is able to hit in one spot that will be very, very precisely targeted that the entire system will collapse. At least that is what they expect.”
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And months after the Colonial Pipeline and JBS cyberattacks, Koffler said many U.S. corporations have yet to invest in the costly resources needed to safeguard their businesses from hacks.
“The companies want to save money, but actually they must do that because in the long run, they are going to lose a lot more money,” she insisted.
Last May, Colonial Pipeline confirmed it paid $4.4 million to the hackers who threatened to destroy their computer network with ransomware.
JBS reportedly paid $11-million to ‘DarkSide’ last June.
And what about the efforts of the Biden Administration? How prepared are U.S. government agencies to thwart another big attack like SolarWinds?
Koffler described the government to be “simply incompetent in implementing very effective strategies.”
More than four years ago, officials installed Kaspersky software on U.S. government computers. In September 2017, they ordered federal agencies to remove the installed software.
The software “is run by the former quote, unquote ‘KGB officer,’ The quote, unquote ‘anti-virus software’ run on government networks,” Koffler recalled. “I mean, how more incompetent does it get?”
Watch this week’s full episode of The Global Lane on the CBN News Channel and Tuesday at 6PM ET on THE NRB Channel.
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