Biden warns cyber attacks could lead to a “real shooting war”

Enlarge / US President Joe Biden, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo attend a plenary session of a NATO summit at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, on June 14, 2021. (credit: Laurie Dieffembacq | Getty Images)

President Joe Biden has warned that cyberattacks could escalate into a full-blown war as tensions with Russia and China mounted over a series of hacking incidents targeting US government agencies, companies, and infrastructure.

Biden said on Tuesday that cyber threats including ransomware attacks increasingly are able to cause damage and disruption in the real world."

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," the president said in a speech at the Office for the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 US intelligence agencies.

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