17 February 2015, 07:11 GMT
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Offensive US cyberattacks, like those recently revealed by Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, jeopardize the United States’ ability to credibly repel cyberattacks by foreign actors, US Congressman Alan Grayson told Sputnik on Tuesday.
“When the United States or its allies launch offensive cyberattacks in other countries, this compromises our ability to defend against or outlaw offensive cyberattacks by anyone,” Grayson said when asked about the potentially damaging impact of Kaspersky’s revelations of the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) spying program.
17 February 2015, 16:40 GMT
On Monday, Kaspersky published a report documenting an advanced hacking operation conducted by a group dubbed the Equation Group. The cybersecurity firm revealed the program had led to approximately 500 computer infections in at least 42 countries. The countries chiefly targeted by the operation include Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Syria.
The highly sophisticated spying program detected by Kaspersky Lab has been spreading malware on hard drives across the globe for about two decades.
The United States is planning to create a new agency dedicated to cybersecurity in light of the growing number of hacking attacks and identity theft in the past year, according to US officials.
