Comey: US could respond to Russia out of public view

FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday pushed back on claims the U.S. was not doing enough to fend off Russian hackers, noting his agency can respond outside of the public eye.

Comey was asked at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in Washington why there was no visible response to Russian cyber threats and whether that meant the government was unable to handle them. 

{mosads}“We have a variety of tools that we as a government can use to deter behavior on the internet outside of norms — and that can involve a variety of things, only some of which could be visible to the public,” he said, quickly clarifying he was speaking in broader terms than just Russia. 

Comey mentioned that even though the government had made some overt responses to hacking incidents — like charging Chinese agents in absentia last year — there were also times when an under-the-radar response was more appropriate.

This summer alone, Russia has been implicated in hacks and attempted hacks of The Democratic National Committee, the New York Times, various Olympic-affiliated agencies and more. 

Comey addressed other issues in the interview, including inter-agency cooperation, the encryption debate and a seeming lack of trust from the private sector in hacking investigations. Companies who suffer an attack often first call forensic cybersecurity firms like Crowdstrike, rather than the FBI.

Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin asked whether that lack of trust might be because of the hard-line stance the FBI took with Apple last year, when it demanded a way into the San Bernardino shooters’ iPhones.

Comey said he hoped that was not the reason.

“We’re transparent about what we’re doing and why,” he said.