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He has also been heavily criticized by outgoing President Donald Trump for his response to the threat.
“We cannot allow this to go unanswered,” Biden said in his pre-holiday address to the American people.
“This means that who is responsible for the attack must be clearly and publicly identified and specific measures must be taken to hold them responsible,” he said.
Biden, who, as president-elect, receives intelligence on key national security issues, said the extent of the damage from the cyber attack is still unknown.
Last week, the US Cyber Security Agency announced a massive cyber attack against some federal government agencies and other targets around the world that began in the spring. The hackers hacked into the systems through software from Texas-based technology company SolarWinds.
According to cybersecurity experts, the impact of the attack can be very widespread and can take several months to figure out.
“I see no evidence that the situation is under control,” Biden said in response to Trump’s statement that the devastating cyberattack was “under control.”
“This president has not even named who is responsible yet,” he said.
Biden has warned that he will retaliate when he takes office on January 20.
“Once you know the extent of the damage and who is officially responsible, you can rest assured that we will respond and probably respond at the same time,” he said.
“There are several options that I will not talk about now,” added Biden.
Devastating rape
According to US officials, the most devastating US cybersecurity breach in recent years has affected the smallest departments of State, Commerce, Treasury, Energy and Homeland Security, as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Analysts believe that other departments, perhaps even major intelligence agencies, have likely been affected by the programmers. According to experts, it can take more than a month to assess the damage.
Biden called the attack “a major threat to our national security” and criticized Trump for underestimating the importance of cybersecurity during his nearly four years in office.
According to the president-elect, the attack was “carefully planned and organized.”
“It has been achieved through modern cyber means,” he said.
“The programmers managed to catch the federal government off guard,” Biden said.
He accused Trump of failing to fulfill his duty to defend the country and “unreasonably downplaying the seriousness of the attack.”
“As president, you still have the responsibility to defend American interests for the remaining four weeks,” the Democrat said.
“This attack took place during Trump’s on-call time, when he was inattentive,” Biden said. “Rest assured: even if he doesn’t take it seriously, I will.”
The administration has yet to officially identify the individuals or states responsible for the cyber attack. But senior officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Bill Barr, as well as a number of influential members of Congress who were briefed on the matter, said the Russians were responsible for the theft.
At the time, Trump accused the media last week of constantly blowing up a Russian threat.
“Cyber piracy is portrayed in the media as much larger than it actually is,” he wrote on Twitter.
“They have given me all the information and everything is well managed,” he wrote.
“Russia, Russia, Russia is the first thing that is sung when something happens,” Trump added, making it clear that China could be responsible for the cyber attack.
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