CYBER RETALIATION IN THE WORKS VS. HACK BLAMED ON RUSSIA

President-elect Joe Biden’s team will consider several options to punish Russia for its suspected role in the unprecedented hacking of US government agencies and companies once he takes office, from stiffer financial sanctions to cyberattacks on Russian infrastructure, people familiar with the matter told Trevor Hunnicutt, David Lawder, Daphne Psaledakis of Reuters.

The response will need to be strong enough to impose a high economic, financial or technological cost on the perpetrators, but avoid an escalating conflict between two nuclear-armed Cold War adversaries, said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The goal also includes stepped-up counter cyber espionage efforts to deter and diminish the potency of future Russian cyber spying. President Donald Trump only acknowledged the hacking on Saturday almost a week after it surfaced, downplaying its importance and questioning whether the Russians were to blame.

With Trump taking no action, Biden’s team is concerned that in the coming weeks the president-elect may be left with only one tool: bluster, according to one of the people familiar with his options.

“Symbolic won’t do it” for any U.S. response, said James Andrew Lewis, a cyber security expert. The massive data breach, first reported by Reuters, enabled hackers believed to be from Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service to explore the networks of government agencies, private companies and think-tanks for months.

One potential target for US Treasury financial sanctions would be the SVR, said Edward Fishman, an Atlantic Council fellow who worked on Russia sanctions at the State Department during the Obama administration.

Lewis said a stronger option could be to cut Russia off from the SWIFT international bank transfer and financial messaging system, a crippling move that would prevent Russian companies from processing payments to and from foreign customers.

Media reports have suggested the SVR-linked hacking group known as "Cozy Bear" or APT29 was responsible for the attacks. The US, Britain and Canada in July accused here "Cozy Bear" of trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine and treatment research from drug companies and academic institutions.

“I would think, at the bare minimum, imposing sanctions against the SVR would be something that the US government should consider,” Fishman said, noting that the move would be largely symbolic and not have a major economic impact.

The US Treasury has already imposed financial sanctions on other Russian security services, the FSB and the GRU. Financial sanctions against Russian state companies and the business empires of Russian oligarchs linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin may be more effective, as they would deny access to dollar transactions, both Fishman and Lewis said.

Those targets could include aluminum giant Rusal, which saw US sanctions lifted in 2018 after blacklisted Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska reduced his stake to a minority in a deal with the Treasury.

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