:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/XYO2INKDARATBMDOQKOTQFNABI.jpg "The US promises to respond if it confirms that Russia orchestrated a cyber attack on Ukraine")
Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the President of U.S, Joe Biden, promised this Sunday that there will be retaliation if it is confirmed that Russia was behind the massive cyberattack on Ukraine, as Kiev assures.
Hours after the Ukrainian government assured that “all the evidence” points to Moscow orchestrating the cyberattack, Sullivan avoided confirming that point and said that Washington is still working to identify those responsible for what happened.
“If it turns out that Russia is hitting Ukraine with cyberattacks, and if that continues for a while, we will work with our allies on the appropriate response,” the Biden adviser said during an interview with CBS News.
The cyberattack targeted some 70 websites, including the sites of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Education and Science, and the Service for Emergency Situations, which were left out of service.
Microsoft said on Saturday that it had detected a “malware” (evil code) operation targeting government and private computer networks in Ukraine that could render them “unusable” and pose a “high risk.”
It is not clear whether last week’s cyberattack is related to the “malware” that Microsoft claims to have detected, whose characteristics do not correspond to the activity of “other known groups”.
The malicious code identified by Microsoft could have been deployed on the same dates that talks between Russia, the United States and NATO regarding the build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border stalled, according to The New York Times.
Sullivan stressed on Sunday that the United States will do “everything it can to defend and protect networks against the kind of destructive ‘malware’ that Microsoft has warned about.”
He insisted that the United States and its NATO allies will impose “severe economic consequences” on Russia if it invades Ukraine, but they are also prepared if Moscow decides to continue negotiations with the West.
“Early next week we will have more to say about the next steps in diplomacy” to resolve the Ukraine crisis, the adviser added.
According to Washington and Kiev, Russia accumulates some 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine and plans to invade the country this winter, an intention that Moscow denies.
This week, the Pentagon accused Russia of orchestrating an operation to “look” like the Russians have been attacked, “as an excuse to enter” or invade Ukraine.
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