Stealth Wars

The EU must not remain indifferent in the face of the largest cyberattack in history.

The United States government suffered a massive cyberattack by hackers connected to the intelligence services of the Russian Federation and it almost went unnoticed. The surge in the pandemic and the bumpy presidential transition, together with a defeated president who refuses to admit the outcome of the election and still hopes to alter the verdict of the polls, have relegated the largest cyberattack ever suffered by a U.S. administration to the background.

This is not just another episode in the controversial relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, but a troubling case of persistent cyber espionage concerning every country which Russia seeks to disrupt, including members of the European Union, most of which are also members of NATO. Together with poisoning attacks on members of the Russian opposition and former secret agents carried out inside Europe, these cyberattacks not only constitute a Cold War approach, are are asymmetric warfare.

The White House has failed to respond to this security crisis which affects five U.S. agencies including the Departments of Treasury, State, Homeland Security, Energy and Commerce, and even the country’s nuclear defense system. The crisis also affects private companies. Trump, the defeated president, blamed the attack on China, directly contradicting information provided by his own administration. This is hardly surprising for this belligerent character whom the Republican Party is beginning to abandon, particularly after he refused to sign a bipartisan budget relief bill to aid citizens and businesses affected by the pandemic and lockdowns. In contrast, President-elect Joe Biden has declared cybersecurity a priority, and said he is ready to face this attack from Day One of his presidency.

Trump’s presidency will remain linked in history to the activities of Putin’s intelligence services. They helped him win the presidency in 2017 and are making the most of his last months in office to infiltrate the government and obtain strategic information, ranging from information about nuclear weapons to the COVID-19 vaccine. For at least the past nine months, the U.S. cybersecurity agency has detected gradual, sophisticated and well organized cyber infiltration activity which poses a great threat to local, state and federal governments, and which may also affect other countries, businesses and European institutions.

The European Commission recently published its cybersecurity strategy around the same time the attack became known. This strategy relates to aspects of digital transformation included in the post-pandemic economic recovery plan. From the moment Biden takes office on Jan. 20, the arrival of the new Democratic administration must be an opportunity for Washington and Brussels to strengthen their cooperation in the face of the growing threat of infiltration by Russian intelligence services. At the cybersecurity level, the trans-Atlantic bond should be inspired by the principle of NATO, which considers an attack against any of its members as a threat to everyone’s safety.