President is planing to announce his response against Russia for meddling through hacking in the U.S. presidential election. This act is expected to trigger avalanche of many unknowns even as Russia has challenged Obama to go ahead as they promised to respond in kind.
In a statement, Intel Security’s chief technology officer, Steve Grobman, warned about the unintended consequences of any plans to retaliate, including inciting actual war.
“The administration, fellow lawmakers, and general public must understand the potentially catastrophic consequences of a digital cyber conflict escalating into a kinetic, conventional shooting war,” Grobman said. “Impacting digital infrastructure beyond the intended target opens the door to draw additional nation states into a conflict. This increases risk to civilian populations as countries see the need to retaliate or escalate.”
It is expected that U.S. could attack Russia’s internet infrastructure. If that happens, the chance of full-blown cyber-warfare will happen.
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Nevertheless, Grobman urged U.S. officials to tighten security around the nation’s digital election systems.
“We strongly encourage any effort to expand the definition of the country’s digital infrastructure to include the nation’s election systems,” he said in a statement. “We usually consider critical infrastructure to include life-sustaining services such as water, power, transportation, and first responder communications. But, given that election systems are the foundational organs of democracy, we must protect them accordingly.”