On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued that the message that there’s a new sheriff in town on cyber warfare “has been sent” to countries like Russia and China, “and, as necessary, will be sent again.”
Co-host Mika Brzezinski asked, “Let’s jump to Russia, and the issue of cyberwarfare, which I think also then ends us up in China. What is the United States prepared to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again? What’s next when the next attack happens to kind of send the message to Vladimir Putin that there’s a new sheriff in town?”
Blinken answered, “I think that message has been sent and, as necessary, will be sent again. The — President Biden addressed this directly with President Putin, both at the meeting in Geneva that I took part in, as well as more recently, on the phone. And one of the things that we’re seeing, as you know, is an increased use of so-called ransomware. And this is tremendously destructive. Overall, one in four Americans has been the victim of a cybercrime, about $40 billion lost on an annual basis. And ransomware, in particular, is increasingly dangerous. And what we’ve made clear to Russia, but to other countries around the world, is if you’re harboring individuals or organizations engaged in cybercrime, engaged in ransomware, that is unacceptable. And if you will not take action against them, we will.”
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