Biden Says Cyber Attacks on US Could Lead to ‘Real Shooting War’

• 

United States President Joe Biden warned Wednesday that any cyber attack on the US could lead to a ‘real shooting war’ with a major power.

Biden's statement highlights what Washington considers to be increasing threats posed by Russia and China, according to Reuters.

Biden said Tuesday, during a 30-minute speech at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has a real problem." "He's sitting on top of an economy that has nuclear weapons and oil wells and nothing else," he added.

Biden sees that Putin "sitting on the world's eighth smallest economy" makes him "even more dangerous."

Biden addressed National Security officials, saying: "[Putin] knows that you’re better than his team, and it bothers the hell out of him."

Cybersecurity has topped the Biden administration's agenda following a series of high-profile assaults on prominent entities, such as SolarWinds; a network management company, Colonial Pipeline, a refined oil pipeline system, and JBS USA, a food processing company. The attacks on these institutions inflicted serious damage upon the United States, disrupting gasoline and food supply accross the country.

Biden reaffirmed "If we end up in a war, a real shooting war with a major power, it’s going to be as a consequence of a cyber breach of great consequence."