Obama Warns Of Cyber ‘Wild, Wild West’ After Talking Cyber Attacks With Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang province, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. (Alexei Druzhinin/ Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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President Obama on Monday confirmed he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about cyber security during the leaders’ tense 90-minute meeting at the G20 summit in China.

While Obama said in a press conference he would not comment on specific open investigations, he said, “We’ve had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia in the past.”

He also the U.S. wants to avoid a cyber espionage arms race with other world powers.

“We’re moving into a new era here and frankly, we’ve got more capacity than anybody both offensively and defensively,” he said.

“What we cannot do is have a situation where this becomes the wild, wild West, where countries that have significant cyber capacity start engaging in unhealthy competition or conflict through these means,” Obama continued.

Obama went on to say countries will have enough threats to contend with from non-state actors without having to worry about state-backed hackers.

As the FBI investigates cyber attacks at the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, sources have attributed the attacks to Russian government-linked hackers, leading some to speculate that Putin is trying to influence the U.S. election in Donald Trump’s favor.

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Notable Replies

  1. War is the continuation of politics by other cyber means…

  2. If looks could kill…
    Obama has a laser focus on that POS standing beneath him.
    What’s Shorty’s name again?

  3. Once again, our President seems to be the only adult in the room. Why do so many hate him? What makes him so different from all his predecessors? Hmmm, let me think, I can’t quite put my finger on it. He will be missed, by me, at least.

  4. Avatar for marby marby says:

    My response to that photo was exactly the same. This is the man the GOP characterizes as weak and leading from behind?

  5. Avatar for lew lew says:

    He will be missed by many. I would consider him the best president in my lifetime.

    Oh, and to answer your question–his ears.

    They’re the wrong color for the GOP.

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