Another Russian Attack

Last month, the Colonial Pipeline was hit by a serious cyberattack. Our intelligence agencies immediately suggested it had all the marks of a Russian operation -- either the Russian government or a private hacking gang. Or, what I think is most likely, a relatively independent gang doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin's government. 

But Joe Biden, who built his campaign on the lie that Donald Trump had been compromised by Russia, inexplicably relieved Putin of any responsibility. Sadly, the demanded ransom was paid. 

America's enemies around the world saw how vulnerable our energy supply is, particularly under an administration that seems intent on taking down our energy industry. 

Now in recent days, another attack has occurred on American soil, this time against our food processing infrastructure. This cyberattack hit JBS, the world's largest meat processor. Almost immediately, 20% of meat processing in the U.S. was shut down. JBS operations in Australia and Canada were also impacted.

Leaks from our intelligence agencies indicate that this attack also originated in Russia. It appears, as of today, that this attack will have a minimal impact on our meat supply. But we shouldn't miss the larger point here. 

If you are an enemy of the U.S., or enemies of the U.S. working together, and you're preparing for war, there's no better way to determine how vulnerable our basic infrastructure is than having a criminal gang hack our vital infrastructure and assess how effective the attack was and what we did in response. 

At the White House yesterday, an American reporter awakened from their slumber managed to yell to Biden as he was leaving the room, "Do you think Putin is testing you?" As Biden was shuffling off the stage, he stopped, turned around and responded, "No." But Biden has no way of knowing that for certain.

Here's the bottom line: It strains credibility to think these attacks coming out of Russia are completely independent of Putin's government. We are suffering attacks on vital infrastructure, but as far as anyone can tell there is no reaction from the U.S. 

As one national security expert put it, "It's time for the United States to start putting heads on spikes when it comes to confronting and dismantling ransomware groups."

I agree. These aren't just kids hacking computers. These attacks on vital infrastructure are acts of war.