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April 18th, 2024 | 2:07 PM ET

Laying Down a Marker

Posted: October 23rd, 2016

By James Lewis

James Lewis is a Senior Vice President and Program Director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  Before joining CSIS, he worked at the Departments of State and Commerce.  He was the advisor for the 2010, 2013 and 2015 United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on Information Security and has led a long-running Track II dialogue on cybersecurity with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

After much hand-wringing, the U.S. publicly admitted that the Russian government is interfering with the Presidential election. This was an open secret for weeks, but pious hopes for the bilateral relationship postponed any confirmation.

The Russians calculate that they can manipulate the U.S. and take advantage of its spectacularly messy election. So far, they have been right.  They have succeeded beyond their greatest hopes. There is no reason for them to stop on their own accord, and the likelihood of further Russian action before election day is high if the U.S. does not take action in response.  One essential lesson for cybersecurity is that unpunished acts are seen as a green light by an attacker. 

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