True to form, President Donald Trump has blamed China, and not Russia, for the most damaging cyberattack on the United States in its history. Trump also downplayed the severity of the cyberattack in his first public comments about this calamity whose full scope has yet to be unearthed.
Trump was alone in laying the blame on China as behind the crippling cyberattack that might have severely compromised U.S. national security since it also hit the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Defense.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the U.S. intelligence services, and cybersecurity experts all concur that Russia launched the attack. Pompeo on Friday said the cyberattack was "pretty clearly" tied to Russia.
"I can't say much more as we're still unpacking precisely what it is, and I'm sure some of it will remain classified," noted Pompeo. "This was a very significant effort, and I think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity."
Trump slapped down Pompeo and all the other experts Saturday in a tweet rant that said, "The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality."
He claimed "everything is well under control," and "Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!)"
Trump then linked the Russian hack to baseless voter fraud conspiracy theories he's been pushing since he lost the election to Joe Biden. Trump said, "there could also have been a hit (by China) on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big."
Before Trump's latest kowtow to Russia, the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an urgent warning, saying the hacks pose "a grave risk" to the federal, state, and local governments. CISA also confirmed the sophisticated attack compromised federal agencies and "critical infrastructure."
The National Security Council has been coordinating the federal response to the massive crisis. U.S. Cyber Command is closely involved in investigating the humiliating exploit and will likely be ordered "to respond" to the Russian attack.
U.S. cybersecurity experts agree an American response is a given considering the grave damage to national security inflicted by the massive Russian break-in.
"They are going to have to respond," asserted a national security official.
Another U.S. official confirmed the hack is severe and extremely damaging.
"This is looking like it's the worst hacking case in the history of America," said the official. "They got into everything."
"The scale (of the attack) is daunting," said James Lewis, vice president of the US Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"We also don't know what's been left behind. The normal practice is to leave something behind so they can get back in, in the future," said Lewis to AFP.
Among the many federal government units compromised by the Russian intrusions were the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense. This list is likely "only the tip of the iceberg," according to one national security official.
Also hit were the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the National Institutes of Health.
CISA said the hack didn't affect the U.S. nuclear arsenal but only "business networks" linked to the Department of Energy, which have since been disconnected.
