President-elect Joe Biden’s administration will consider ways to punish Russia for its alleged role in the hacking of half a dozen US government agencies, including the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of State. Biden’s response to the massive hacking attack will go beyond sanctions. This time, Russia could be cut off from the SWIFT international bank transfer and financial messaging system. Atlantic Council fellow Edward Fishman who worked on Russia sanctions at the State Department during the Obama administration believes the US Treasury should consider financial sanctions against the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
"Symbolic won’t do it. You want the Russians to know we’re pushing back," James Andrew Lewis, a cyber security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.
Joe Biden is expected to take counter actions, including cyber attacks on Russian infrastructure and financial sanctions, immediately after he has taken office. Such effective steps should lead to tremendous losses in Russia’s economic, financial, and technology sectors.