President-elect Donald Trump has cybercriminals in his sights, it was suggested by Republican Rep. Mike Waltz on Sunday. Trump’s nomination for national security advisor made the remarks during an episode of CBS’s Face the Nation.
The news follows a high-profile espionage campaign allegedly conducted by the Chinese, known as “Salt Typhoon,” which recently saw data stolen from US telecommunications companies. Waltz did not specifically outline what Trump planned to do in response, instead setting out a general agenda.
With cyberattacks on the rise, the US waits to see how the incoming administration will respond to this escalating issue. While cybersecurity is a bipartisan concern, it’s likely that Trump will reject aspects of his predecessor’s “third rail of cybersecurity” policy, which aimed to create legislation to punish tech companies for complicity in cyberattacks.
Trump Nominee Vows to Punish Cybercriminals
Mike Waltz, Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor in his upcoming administration, has suggested that the US is exploring ways to combat cybercrime, which is spiraling out of control.
The Republican rep. claimed that previous governments had chosen to prioritize bolstering their cybersecurity rather than on efforts to deter malicious actors. The comments come just a couple of weeks after a high-profile data breach allegedly committed by China, which impacted at least eight telecommunications and infrastructure firms.
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Said Waltz: “We need to start going on the offense and start imposing, I think, higher costs and consequences to private actors and nation-state actors that continue to steal our data, that continue to spy on us,” Reuters reports.
New Administration Brings New Approach
Waltz’s remarks signal a change in approach for the US government. Previous administrations have placed emphasis on safeguarding critical infrastructure at the expense of preventative measures. In 2023, for instance, President Biden issued his National Cybersecurity Strategy, which sought to “rebalance the responsibility to defend cyberspace by shifting the burden for cybersecurity” onto “organizations that are most capable and and best-positioned to reduce risks for all of us,” as outlined by Brookings.
As part of this, the outgoing President introduced a “liability shift” from software users to vendors that sought to encourage large organizations to bake security best practices into their products, rather than relying on the discretion of the user. It is thought that President-elect Trump will not favor carrying this policy forward, as it involves regulation of the private sector.
With Elon Musk, the newly appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency, at his side, cutting red tape and regulations is expected to be high on the agenda. Both men are known advocates of light-touch regulation, and are unlikely to be supportive of legislation that pulls guardrails around the tech sector.
Fears Mount as Trump Nears Second Term
Data breaches are increasingly common in the US, with actors from Russia and China thought to be among the biggest culprits. The government has long maintained somewhat uneasy ties with both nations.
With Trump’s second term beginning in just over a month, there is concern that he will pursue an aggressive foreign policy that could potentially inflame relations with the Russians and Chinese even further. While nothing is set in stone, Waltz’s remarks hint at a certain direction.
Perhaps in an effort to foster some goodwill ahead of his departure from the Oval Office, President Biden on Friday renewed the Science and Technology Agreement, a decades-old agreement between the US and China that seeks to advance “US interests through newly established and strengthened provisions on transparency and data reciprocity.”
