<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/trump-russia-hacking-cyber-security>
"The Trump administration has publicly and privately signaled that it does not
believe Russia represents a cyber threat against US national security or
critical infrastructure, marking a radical departure from longstanding
intelligence assessments.
The shift in policy could make the US vulnerable to hacking attacks by Russia,
experts warned, and appeared to reflect the warming of relations between Donald
Trump and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.
Two recent incidents indicate the US is no longer characterizing Russia as a
cybersecurity threat.
Liesyl Franz, deputy assistant secretary for international cybersecurity at the
state department, said in a speech last week before a United Nations working
group on cybersecurity that the US was concerned by threats perpetrated by some
states but only named China and Iran, with no mention of Russia in her remarks.
Franz also did not mention the Russia-based LockBit ransomware group, which the
US has previously said is the most prolific ransomware group in the world and
has been called out in UN forums in the past. The treasury last year said
LockBit operates on a ransomeware-as-service model, in which the group licenses
its ransomware software to criminals in exchange for a portion of the paid
ransoms.
In contrast to Franz’s statement, representatives for US allies in the European
Union and the UK focused their remarks on the threat posed by Moscow, with the
UK pointing out that Russia was using offensive and malicious cyber-attacks
against Ukraine alongside its illegal invasion.
“It’s incomprehensible to give a speech about threats in cyberspace and not
mention Russia and it’s delusional to think this will turn Russia and the FSB
[the Russian security agency] into our friends,” said James Lewis, a veteran
cyber expert formerly of the Center for Strategic and International Studies
think tank in Washington. “They hate the US and are still mad about losing the
cold war. Pretending otherwise won’t change this.”"
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
