Trump Administration withdraws in the fight against Russian cyber threats | US national security

The Trump government has publicly and privately signaled that Russia does not believe that Russia represents a cyber threat to national security or the critical infrastructure of the US infrastructure and evaluates radical deviation from long -term secret services.

The movement of politics could make the United States susceptible to hacking attacks by Russia, warned experts and seemed to reflect on the warming of relationships between Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Two recent incidents indicate that the United States no longer characterizes Russia as cyber security threat.

Liesyl Franz, deputy deputy secretary for international cyber security in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a speech last week before a united nations working group about cyber security that the United States was concerned with threats committed by some states but only called China and Iran without Russia being mentioned in its concerns. Franz also did not mention the Lockbit Ransomware group based in Russia, which the United States was previously the most productive Ransomware group in the world and were called in UN forums in the past. Last year, the Ministry of Finance said that Lockbit was running a ransomware-as-service model in which the group licenses its ransomware software to criminals in exchange for part of the paid ransom.

In contrast to Franz ‘statement, representatives for US allies in the European Union and Great Britain focused on the threat of Moscow, with the United Kingdom pointed out that Russia started offensive and malignant cyber attacks against Ukraine in addition to his illegal invasion.

“It is incomprehensible to give a speech about threats in cyberspace and not mention Russia, and it is delusional to believe that this will transform Russia and the FSB (the Russian security authority) into our friends,” said James Lewis, an experienced cyber expert who was formerly the Center for Strategic and International Student Cancer in Washington in Washington. “They hate the United States and are still angry with losing the Cold War. It is not changed that this will not be changed. “

The US change was also set behind closed doors.

In a recently carried out memo in cyber security and the infrastructure security authority (CISA), new priorities for the agency were determined, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security and the cyber threats against US -critical infrastructure monitored. The new guideline contained priorities that included China and the protection of local systems. Russia was not mentioned.

A person familiar with the matter who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of the anonymity said that analysts of the agency were verbally informed that they are not allowed to follow Russian threats or report on reports, although this was previously a focus for the agency.

The person said that the work that was done to something “Russia” was actually “not mixed”.

“Russia and China are ours biggest opponent. In all the cuts to various agencies, many cyber security personnel were fired. Our systems are not protected and our opponents know that, ”said the person.

The person added: “People say Russia wins. Putin is now from the inside. “

The New York Times reported separately that the Trump government also re-assigned CISA officials who were geared towards the protective elections from cyber attacks and other attempts to disturb the vote.

Another person who previously worked on US joint task forces who operated on increased classification levels to pursue and fight Russian cyber threats said that the development was “really shocking”.

“Thousands of US government employees and militarily work every day on the massive threat, which Russia is possibly the most important actor in the national state. Not to reduce the importance of China, Iran or North Korea, but Russia is at least the most important cyber threat to China, ”said the person.

The person added.

Cisa initially did not answer a comment on the Guardian’s request. Hours after the publication of this article, the memo “from the Trump administration”.

“The CISA is still obliged to tackle all cyber threats for the US -critical infrastructure, including Russia. Our attitude or priority has not changed in this front, ”said DHS spokesman Tricia McLaughlin.

The Foreign Ministry did not answer a comment on the Guardian’s request.

The change is not entirely surprising, since the Trump government has made it clear that it should be done well with Moscow. At the beginning of this week in the United Nations, the United States voted Russia against an EU Ukrainian resolution, which Russia sentenced to the third anniversary of Russia invasion in Ukraine.

“The United States has long rated Russia, China and Iran as a leader in cyber threats. In order to see a US representative in an international environment, the role of Russia is a bit shocked – although it corresponds to the sudden orientation of the United States with Russia and its satellites on the global stage, ”said Scott Horton, an American lawyer who previously worked in Moscow and advised Russian human rights.

The United States has long warned that Russia is a cyber threat to the US infrastructure, including the annual threat assessment, which was published by US secret services last year. In the report, Russia represented a “permanent global cyber threat”, also since it prioritized cyber operations against Ukraine. Moscow, the report, came to the conclusion: Russia was able to address industrial control systems in the USA and in the Allies and partner countries.

Only a few legislators were just as open in this topic as Marco Rubio when he was still a Florida senator. In 2020, Rubio, as chairman of the Senate’s intelligence agency, who, as Foreign Minister of Trump today, said the USA for a massive and persistent cyber attack, which affects companies and federal authorities, including the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Energy Department, compromised companies and federal authorities. At the time he said that the attacks “match Russian cyber operations”.

However, there were no signs of this type of complaint from Franz, who now reports Rubio in the Foreign Ministry. The language change in the latest UN speech was not only remarkable in order to leave Russia and Lockbit away, said Valentin Weber, Senior Research Fellow at the German Council for Exterior Relations, but also to mention allies and partners.

“Putin’s Russia drove a autocratic agenda in the UN cyber security negotiations for a quarter of a century, while they have participated in non-stop cyber attacks and information operations worldwide, and the USA and other democracies have returned,” said William Drake, Director of International Studies at Columbia Institute for Tele Information in Columbia Business school. “But now the Trump government has given up the liberal international order … (and) The United States is no longer a global power that tries to maintain an open and rules based on an open international system, but only a great power with narrower self-interests that happen to be affected by the cyber attacks of China.”

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