On December 22, The Wall Street Journal reported, "during the 2020 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump once stated “nobody gets hacked” in an apparent attempt to minimize concerns about possible Russian interference in the election." President-elect Joe Biden responded, “cyber threats are among the greatest threats to our global security in the 21st century,” he added, “I believe we have to treat them with the same seriousness of purpose that we treated threats of other unconventional weapons.”
From the ashes of Donald Trump's white-hot administration, and of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the United States of America has discovered its information systems have been hacked to the point where major departments have given away sensitive information/intelligence and where industries have been turned upside-down, The Wall Street Journal continued, "the president-elect blamed Mr. Trump for an insufficient focus on cybersecurity, noting the elimination two years ago of a White House cybersecurity coordinator position and another effort to downgrade cybersecurity efforts at the State Department. Last month, Mr. Trump fired Chris Krebs, the top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security." According to the Associated Press on December 20, "Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, blasted Trump for putting the U.S. at continuing risk." He also urged, "an immediate response and calling cyberspace the warfare of the future.”
When in Wilmington, Delaware asked if it represented an act of war, Biden replied, “I see no evidence that it’s under control. I see none. Heard of none. Department won’t even brief us on many things. So I know of nothing that suggests it’s under control,” and, "enough’s enough. In an age when so much of our lives are conducted online, cyber attacks must be treated as a serious threat by our leadership at the highest levels. We can’t let this go unanswered. That means making clear and publicly who was responsible for the attack and taking meaningful steps to hold them in account."
While competition has been using America's lack of security and failed oversight against it, the U.S. president-elect said it is unknown, "the full scope of the breach or the extent of the damage it has caused. But we know this much, this attack constitutes a grave risk to our national security." Reports have suggested the hacks are coming from Russia, however; a greater understanding reveals the country's information technology/cyber systems are being exploited by anyone who can gain an advantage (see also: Bloomberg - China's Economy Set to Overtake U.S. Earlier Due to Covid Fallout). Biden said hackers have been, "setting the landscape to compromise our systems, scraping up sensitive information from our world-class tech sector and from private businesses and from United States government agencies." On December 20, The Wenatchee World's Simon Lewis reported, "Ron Klain said Biden was mapping out ways to degrade the capacity of foreign actors to engage in cyber attacks against the United States."
Leading up to Biden taking office on January 20, Joe said he is consulting, "with experts to plan for the steps that my administration will take in order to secure our systems, improve our cyber defenses and to better withstand future attacks that we know will come and to impose costs on those who conduct them," and also that, "we have to work with our allies to establish clear international rules and mechanisms to enforce them, and consequences for those countries that violate them" -- he referenced the previous administration where he served as vice-president, "as President Obama and I, and our administration talked about, we need international society, international rules of the road on cyber security. We have to bring along our allies and our friends, so we hold everyone accountable who breaches any of these basic fundamental rules" (more from this series: Ascendents.net - November 11, Intellectual Property Theft).
Here is the full transcript of Joe Biden's December 22 Press Conference
