The US could apply 'deterrence practices' against Russian hackers
The Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Carlin, stated that the US can apply a practice of deterrence against Russian hackers if they continue their practice of invading US resources, Voice of America reported. It was noted that Iran, North Korea, China and Russia are the four countries that pose the biggest threat to US cyberspace.
According to Carlin, the US has successfully deterred three of them. The Department of Justice brought charges against separate hackers from China and Iran, and, as a result, several hackers were detained. In early 2015, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, imposed sanctions against the People’s Republic of China for the cyberattack on Sony’s servers.
Currently, a growing number of experts agree that the practice of cyber-deterrence should be applied against Russian hackers if the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) can prove that Russians are behind the attacks on the Democratic National Committee. “We haven’t seen public actions against Russia yet. However, it would be a mistake for them to think that we will not apply the deterrence model if they continue the practice of invasion,” Carlin warned.
In response to the question of possible Russian intervention in US elections, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, noted that, according to Putin’s point-of-view, the US interferes in political processes in the Russian Federation and post-Soviet areas. Consequently, hacker attacks can be of a corresponding scope.
Clapper said that Vladimir Putin is “paranoid” and makes every effort to avoid revolution in Russia. “Of course they see a US conspiracy behind every bush and ascribe far more impact than we’re actually guilty of, but that’s their mindset. And so I think their approach is they believe we are trying to influence political developments in Russia, trying to effect change, and so their natural response is to retaliate and do unto us as they think we’ve done unto them,” Clapper explained.
Earlier, the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Hillary Clinton, stated that Russian Security Services hacked the computers of the Democratic National Committee.