Microsoft President Urges Stronger U.S. Action Against Nation-State Cyberattacks

[Microsoft Cyber Testimony]

In this blog series we spotlight one of the stories from our cybersecurity newsletter, Beacon.

Microsoft’s President Brad Smith has urged Donald Trump to take a stronger stance against cyberattacks by Russia, China, and Iran, citing a surge in state-sponsored hacking campaigns targeting U.S. government officials and election infrastructure.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Smith emphasized that cybersecurity “deserves to be a more prominent issue of international relations” and called on the incoming U.S. administration to send a “strong message” to deter future attacks. “I hope the Trump administration will push harder against nation-state cyberattacks, especially from Russia, China, and Iran,” Smith said. “We should not tolerate the level of attacks we are seeing today.”

Ransomware attacks on U.S. businesses have risen sharply in recent years, often carried out by criminal groups that Smith alleged are “tolerated, and in some cases even facilitated,” by the Russian government. Meanwhile, U.S. law enforcement agencies recently accused China of conducting a large-scale cyber espionage campaign targeting American telecommunications networks ahead of the election.

According to a recent Microsoft study, its customers face over 600 million cyberattacks daily, with an increasing collaboration between criminal groups and nation-state actors, who are now sharing tools and launching joint operations.

While Smith credited the Biden administration for making “tremendous progress in strengthening cybersecurity protections,” he noted that “more steps are needed, especially in dissuading and deterring these countries from unleashing cyberattacks.”