Security News > 2020 > December > With Trump Silent, Reprisals for Hacks May Fall to Biden
All fingers are pointing to Russia as the source of the worst-ever hack of U.S. government agencies.
To be sure, it's not uncommon for administrations to refrain from leveling public accusations of blame for hacks until they've accumulated enough evidence.
It took weeks after the incidents became public for the Obama administration to blame North Korea in the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack in 2014 and for then-national intelligence director James Clapper to confirm China as the "Leading suspect" in hacks of the Office of Personnel Management.
The U.S. can also retaliate in cyberspace, a path made easier by a Trump administration authorization that has already resulted in some operations.
Former national security adviser John Bolton told reporters at a 2018 briefing that offensive cyber operations against foreign rivals would now be part of the U.S. arsenal and that the U.S. response would no longer be primarily defensive.