A Russian cyberattack against Ukraine could prompt U.S. sanctions — even without an invasion
The package is meant to serve as a compromise between diverging approaches of sanctioning Russia before or after an invasion, with Republicans pushing for sanctions to be imposed ahead of time, and Democrats supporting taking action following Russian troops crossing the Ukrainian border. But cyberattacks are an area where many agree that early action is needed. also argued for sanctions for any recent cyberattacks by Russia against Ukraine.
The U.S. has previously imposed sanctions on Russia for attacks against American targets, such as the sprawling SolarWinds espionage operation discovered in late 2020, in which Russian hackers compromised computer systems of at least a dozen federal agencies and 100 private companies. The Justice Department has also indicted several alleged Russian hackers in recent years.
It’s unclear how serious a cyberattack would have to be to trigger sanctions or counterstrikes under the scenarios the senators are contemplating. The attacks on Ukrainian websites are minor compared with some possible assaults. In 2015, Russian hackers shut down part of Ukraine’s power grid, leaving around a quarter of a million people without power. Another attack in 2017 disabled networks of thousands of organizations in the public and private sectors.
“We need to share whatever we possibly can in terms of helping them to prepare and defend, and I think we need to keep all options on the table for our response to a cyberattack,” Senate Intelligence memberLawmakers are also pushing to include more aid to Ukraine to help it prevent or respond to cyberattacks.
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