Search for vulnerabilities

Over the past four months, US special services and assistants to US President Barack Obama have proposed several options for response to Russian cyber attacks, but all proposals were rejected. It is reported by The New York Times. Some of these options considered ineffective, others - too risky.

One of the options - his publication calls the "trivial" - suggested the exposure of Vladimir Putin's connections with the oligarchs. But a number of Obama’s assistants rejected this idea, explaining that such exposure would not become a shock for the Russians.

The idea was also expressed to achieve secret accounts opened in European and Asian banks by functionaries from Putin's near circle.

The US National Security Directorate and the US Cybernetic Command made their plans, but some of these initiatives were rejected by the Pentagon. It was supposed to use Obama’s cadence to use the arsenal of cyber weapons worth a billion dollars for a preventive blow to computers of Russian hackers. One of the ideas was to manipulate the cyber weapons developed by Moscow.

At the same time, it was noted that the choice of goals and accuracy of Washington’s strike will lead to the disclosure of spy codes, introduced by the Americans themselves into Russian networks in case of cyber conflicts in the future. In August, the intervention of the National Security Management in the operation of foreign networks was exposed. This, notes the publication, inspires the fears that the Russians also built their codes into American networks, and the exposure was designed to demonstrate that the US Cybekerer would meet the corresponding reaction.

The former US Ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaol, commenting on the situation, noted: "He (Obama. - Ed.) There are not many opportunities."

Some existing officials, in turn, explained that the US president is guided by two principles. The first is better not to use weapons at all than using it ineffective. The second - you can come into conflict only when there is confidence in the winnings.

On the eve of Obama said that the cyber attack on the US election system stopped after he personally called on Putin to put an end to Putin in early September. The American leader also once again assured that Washington would take retaliatory measures against Russian hackers.