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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Russia Warns Against U.S. Retaliation for SolarWinds Amid Fears of Cyberwar

Thursday, March 11, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats Cyber Security

Comments: 0

a Russian spokesman

RUSSIA ON TUESDAY warned against pending action that U.S. officials say will take place in retaliation for the massive and ongoing hack into federal computer servers despite the potential for a devastating cyberwar.

"This is nothing more than international cybercrime," Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters Tuesday morning, according to a translation of his remarks.

He spoke in response to a series of claims from U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and FBI Director Christopher Wray, that they are considering harsh punishments on Russia for the attack, including overt sanctions and some form of covert salvos in the cyber realm. Wray hinted at the action in testimony before Congress this month, saying the U.S. was preparing cyber "joint sequenced operations."

Peskov's comments serve as the latest denial from Moscow of anything to do with the alarming intrusion into public and private computer servers that reportedly began in 2019, the scope of which U.S. security officials are still grappling with. The sweeping hack first came to public attention late last year, and U.S. intelligence agencies in January concluded that Russia was the likely culprit.

The New York Times has reported on some of the specific covert measures the U.S. is currently preparing to Russian networks, which Peskov on Tuesday called "alarming information." And he repeated denials of any complicity from Moscow, saying "the Russian state has never had and has nothing to do" with "such cybercrime and cyber terrorism."

Many analysts support the need for some sort of retaliation to deter Russia from future action, while also acknowledging that the attack exposed gaping holes in the U.S. system for protecting its cyber infrastructure, which controls banks, electricity grids and airports.

However, some have already pointed out that the SolarWinds attack could have been much worse and say the Russian response to new U.S. action may be if the Biden administration does not proceed carefully.

"Russian authorities are likely to increase harassment of diplomats and restrict their activities, including possible expulsions. They may also seek to take legal action against local entities that have Western links by using a recently enhanced 'foreign agents' law to impose fines and curtail their operations," private intelligence firm Stratfor wrote in a recent analysis note.

It notes that Russia would likely impose new sanctions or open investigations into U.S. businesses as a way to interfere in their local operations.

"Most aggressively, the Kremlin could make public and/or covert moves in the security sphere. The Russian government could endorse cyber operations targeting Western companies not merely to collect information, but to infect and damage their networks," according to Stratfor. "Of most concern, but also the least likely at the moment, Russia could step up pressure in military conflict zones, such as increasing support for separatists in eastern Ukraine."

Photo: “This is nothing more than international cybercrime,” Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters Tuesday morning.(SERGEI BOBYLEV/TASS/GETTY IMAGES)

Link: Russia Warns Against U.S. Retaliation for SolarWinds Amid Fears of Cyberwar | World Report | US News

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