US Cyber Command to implant malware on the Russian grid to enable crippling attacks if necessary
The US Cyber Command has been more aggressive in attacking Russia over the past year than ever before and has been implanted in multiple systems that control the Russian grid.
In the New York Times’ report this Saturday, the anonymous official was quoted as saying that this was mainly due to the fact that since the summer of last year, the US Congress has relaxed the relevant legal authorization restrictions, and the network command’s strategy has changed from a defensive posture to an offensive posture, allowing it to happen. In the event of a conflict, a serious attack is caused in a cyber attack.
The New York Times stated that the actions of the Cyber Command were confirmed by the US Secretary of Defense and were not authorized by the current US President Trump. Some recent attacks against Russia were carried out under a military authorization bill passed by the US Congress in 2018, which allowed “clandestine military activity” in cyberspace to deter, protect or defend against attacks or malicious networks against the United States.
The New York Times also said that the Cyber Command received new powers from the US President in the National Security Presidential Memoranda 13 last year, allowing attacks on “Russia Small Group” and supporting “overwhelm” computers used by the Internet Research Agency, the Russia-backed group indicted by the US Department of Justice for a campaign of fake news and trolling during the 2016 election.
Via: CNET
