Biden Warns Cyber Attacks May Lead to ‘Real Shooting War’

U.S. President Joe Biden warned, on Tuesday, that if the United States ended up in a "real shooting war" with a "major power" it could be the result of a significant cyber attack on the country.

Biden noted that cyber threats including ransomware attacks “increasingly are able to cause damage and disruption in the real world.”

“If we end up in a war, a real shooting war with a major power, it’s going to be as a consequence of a cyber breach,” Biden affirmed in a speech at the Office for the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 US intelligence agencies.

A number of recent hacks proved the extent of US cyber vulnerability, ranging from extensive espionage breaches that have struck at the heart of government to ransomware attacks that have brought operations at an important oil pipeline and meat packing plants to a halt.

Thus, the Biden administration has accused the governments of Russia and China, or hackers based inside the two countries, of some of the attacks.

Moreover, US officials have warned the administration would respond with a “mix of tools seen and unseen” actions, but cyber breaches have continued.

Although he did not mention who such a war might be fought against, Biden immediately name-checked Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, alleging that Russia was spreading misinformation ahead of the 2022 US midterm elections.

“It’s a pure violation of our sovereignty,” he said.

“Mr Putin . . . has a real problem. He is sitting on top of an economy that has nuclear weapons and oil wells and nothing else. Nothing else,” he added. “He knows he’s in real trouble, which makes him even more dangerous.”

At a June summit in Geneva, the President personally warned Putin that the US would “respond with cyber” if the Russian state or Russia-based hackers targeted critical US infrastructure.