[Politics_Observer]

Well it's good to hear that Biden might be willing to use some of our own cyber warfare to retaliate against the group responsible. He needs to be willing to take the leash off the rottweilers when it's necessary to do so to keep the country safe. But Russia has a responsibility to prosecute these criminals too otherwise they are complicit.

President Joe Biden said Thursday he does not believe the Russian government was behind a cyberattack that shut down the pipeline supplying gasoline to the eastern US but said Moscow must do more to stop such attacks coming from Russia.

When asked directly if he would rule out any sort of cyberattacks targeting the criminal group that carried out the attack, Biden simply said, "No."
Speaking from the White House's Roosevelt Room Thursday afternoon, the President provided an update on the Colonial Pipeline incident, seeking to assure the American people that his administration is mitigating gas shortages in the Southeast and protecting Americans from price gouging in the aftermath of the shutdown.

"We do not believe -- emphasize, we do not believe -- the Russian government was involved in this attack," Biden said. "But we do have strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in Russia. That's where it came from."

Moscow bears a responsibility to stop such attacks when they originate within its borders, the President added.

"We have been in direct communications with Moscow about the imperative for responsible countries to take decisive action against these ransomware networks," he went on.

Colonial Pipeline, which carries fuel from refineries along the Gulf Coast to New Jersey, learned of the cyber threat on Friday and shut down operations, while engaging federal agencies and a third-party cybersecurity firm, FireEye, to investigate the attack. The attack on the critical pipeline highlighted growing concerns over the vulnerabilities in the nation's critical infrastructure, as ransomware attacks have worsened over the years, with recent targets as varied as state and local governments, hospitals and police departments.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/13/politics ... index.html

[B0ycey]

"We do not believe -- emphasize, we do not believe -- the Russian government was involved in this attack,"

I doubt the US will retaliate unless there is evidence of correspondence to the Kremlin. It is important to talk tough given it was a crisis - if anything just to show people that the US take this issue seriously. Which just proves my point in the last thread. It makes no sense to cyber attack the US as they will no doubt do it back to you if you're caught.

[Politics_Observer]

@B0ycey

Well the Russian government needs to crack down on those criminals. They are operating on their territory. Those criminals almost took down a major fuel pipeline over here and came close to successfully extorting Colonial Oil for millions of dollars. Those are criminals over there. Sorry pieces of shit. While people over are busting their ass trying to make a honest living, those criminals are using technology to try and extort hardworking Americans both at Colonial Oil and at the fuel pump. So Russia needs to do something about it on their territory.

But don't think the US won't retaliate in some way against the criminals themselves, because there is a good chance we will. Not saying for sure if we will, but I wouldn't be surprised if we did. If the Russian government keeps allowing these criminals to operate on their territory, they might become a target or some important infrastructure that is part of the Russian economy might become a target for our own hackers at the NSA if Biden takes the leash off them to do so. You know, you can't just let criminal groups take down an oil pipeline and let that go.

[Rancid]

@B0ycey

Well the Russian government needs to crack down on those criminals. They are operating on their territory. Those criminals almost took down a major fuel pipeline over here and came close to successfully extorting Colonial Oil for millions of dollars. Those are criminals over there. Sorry pieces of shit. While people over are busting their ass trying to make a honest living, those criminals are using technology to try and extort hardworking Americans both at Colonial Oil and at the fuel pump. So Russia needs to do something about it on their territory.

But don't think the US won't retaliate in some way against the criminals themselves, because there is a good chance we will. Not saying for sure if we will, but I wouldn't be surprised if we did. If the Russian government keeps allowing these criminals to operate on their territory, they might become a target or some important infrastructure that is part of the Russian economy might become a target for our own hackers at the NSA if Biden takes the leash off them to do so. You know, you can't just let criminal groups take down an oil pipeline and let that go.

Doubtful the US will ever figure out who actually did this, and thus, no retaliation. As @B0ycey stated, this is just tough talk because that's all that can be done.

I do not doubt that if the US found out who did this, they would respond with an attack; but we simply are not going to figure it out.

Side question, does the US prosecute hackers operating in the US that hack our enemies?

[B0ycey]

Well the Russian government needs to crack down on those criminals. They are operating on their territory.

Well they will need to know who they are in order to do that. I suspect the US will know certain things by now but clearly not enough to ask for extradition given they have said this isn't likely to be the Kremlin and nothing more. Besides, Biden only said he will not rule out retaliating against the organisation that did this (DarkSide) rather than Russia directly which is what you keep bitching on about. I would say that is a certainty to happen if they are able to. The merely fact it is a "maybe" should be testament for you to understand at least that prosecuting this organisation won't be easy and even harder if you don't request do so as you may not even be able to locate them digitally - let alone physically.

[Politics_Observer]

@Rancid

I am pretty sure we would prosecute hackers here in the U.S. even if they hack our enemies. Hacking is a serious offense and they will put you away for a long time. Law enforcement, especially at the federal level have some really smart people who can track hackers down and who are especially good at digital forensics to make a case against a hacker. I am sure we have hackers who work at the NSA who are authorized by the U.S. government to secretly carry out hacking operations when necessary. But, if you just some dude who decides to hack our enemies here in the U.S., the U.S. government will probably put you in prison for a long time regardless. Those type of hackers are not operating under the control and authorization of the U.S. government and would probably face prosecution.

[B0ycey]

I am pretty sure we would prosecute hackers here in the U.S. even if they hack our enemies. Hacking is a serious offense and they will put you away for a long time.

I am more sure they won't given they seem ok with hacking THEIR OWN CITIZENS, let alone their enemies infrastructure.

#Snowden.

[Rancid]

I am more sure they won't given they seem ok with hacking THEIR OWN CITIZENS, let alone their enemies infrastructure.

#Snowden.

This would be my guess too.

I think the US government would be totally fine if say, I just went and started hacking Russians and Russian companies. Not that I know how to do that anyway, but you get the point.

@Politics_Observer our government isn't as squeaky clean as you like to think.

[Politics_Observer]

@Rancid

Nah, I honestly think we would prosecute somebody for that. Now, if you are working on behalf of the U.S. government under their control and they have authorized you to hack very specific targets, you wouldn't face prosecution because you were authorized to do so by the U.S. government. But if you are just some dude sitting in a basement somewhere, I wouldn't go hacking Russia because you might find yourself going to prison. That take hacking pretty seriously here in the United States and if you do that and they figure out it was you who did it, I think they will put you away. I wouldn't take the risk. That's a serious offense with some serious time behind bars.

[Rancid]

@Rancid

Nah, I honestly think we would prosecute somebody for that. Now, if you are working on behalf of the U.S. government under their control and they have authorized you to hack very specific targets, you wouldn't face prosecution because you were authorized to do so by the U.S. government. But if you are just some dude sitting in a basement somewhere, I wouldn't go hacking Russia because you might find yourself going to prison. That take hacking pretty seriously here in the United States and if you do that and they figure out it was you who did it, I think they will put you away. I wouldn't take the risk. That's a serious offense with some serious time behind bars.

Meh, I don't think so.

In any case.

SING ALONG WITH THE PATRIOTIC HACKERS!