The Biden administration is actually blaming China. Only for its hacking of Exchange servers, but finally placing some blame where blame is due, nonetheless. In statements to reporters Monday, the administration blamed China for hacking the Microsoft Exchange servers that compromised tens of thousands of computers in March.
The administration also accused China of working with “criminal” hackers to target companies for ransom. However, the White House still has yet to impose sanctions on China over the hack.
A White House fact sheet stated, “We have raised our concerns about both this incident and the [People’s Republic of China’s] broader malicious cyber activity with senior PRC Government officials in making clear that the PRC’s actions threaten security, confidence, and stability in cyberspace.”
So the White House told China the very obvious fact that their actions threaten security and stability in cyberspace. Uh, yeah, they already know that; that’s why they do it. European allies also condemned the hacking operations.
A U.S. official told the Associated Press that while sanctions on China were not immediately forthcoming, the Biden administration believes the joint statements with allies will send an important message to the country. Again, they already know the message.
There have been a number of ransomware attacks recently. Multiple attacks have been tied to Russian hackers such as the group Darkside which hacked the Colonial Pipeline in May. The pipeline was shut down for days and the company reportedly paid around $4.4 million in ransom to Darkside. Reportedly at least $2.3 million was recovered by the Justice Department.
