Biden: Russia Hatching Private Sector Cyber Attacks

President Joe Biden issued an urgent warning that Russian cyberattacks on the private sector are coming and advised business leaders to immediately step up their digital defenses.

“Most of America’s critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, and critical infrastructure owners and operators must accelerate efforts to lock their digital doors,” Biden said at the Business Roundtable Quarterly Meeting in Washington on Monday (March 21). 

Calling cyber attacks “part of Russia’s playbook,” Biden said that “evolving intelligence” points to Russian President Vladimir Putin striking the U.S. electronically in retaliation for sanctions imposed in response to the attack on Ukraine. 

Read more: ​​Biden, European Leaders Double Down on Russia Sanctions

The details of the intelligence pointing to cyberattacks remained unclear — however, Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Deputy NSA for Cyber and Emerging Technologies Anne Neuberger said at Monday’s press briefing that while there is no particular evidence, the new alert builds on previous warnings.

“Today we are reiterating these warnings, and we are doing so based on evolving threat intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in the United States,” Neuberger said.

“To be clear, there is no intelligence that there will be a cyberattack on critical infrastructure,” Neuberger said.

“At the President’s direction, the administration has worked extensively over the last year to prepare to meet this sort of threat, providing unprecedented warning and advice to the private sector and mandating cybersecurity measures where we have the authority to do so,” Neuberger said.

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The White House released a fact sheet detailing ways that U.S. companies can defend themselves against cyberattacks, including mandating the use of multifactor authentication and encrypting data.

Federal agencies recently assembled more than 100 U.S. companies to share information on the new intelligence around potential Russian cyberattacks, Neuberger said. 

“During those meetings, we shared resources and tools to help companies harden their security,” Neuberger said.