US needs to do more to make cyber attackers pay, Trump adviser Waltz says

Mike Waltz urges the US to impose higher costs on cyber attackers, following allegations of Chinese espionage

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Congressman Mike Waltz, Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:56am, 16 Dec 2024Updated: 9:15am, 16 Dec 2024

US president-elect Donald Trump’s administration will examine ways to impose higher costs on private actors and US adversaries who wage cyberattacks on America, said congressman Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, on Sunday.

The comments come after US allegations of a sweeping Chinese cyber espionage campaign known as Salt Typhoon that targeted and recorded telephone calls of senior American political figures.

The White House has said at least eight telecommunications and infrastructure firms in the United States had been affected and a large number of Americans’ metadata was stolen in the sweeping cyber espionage campaign.

Waltz did not say what the Trump administration would do in response to Salt Typhoon but spoke more generally about the incoming administration’s approach. He said Washington for too long had focused mostly on bolstering its cyber defences.

“We need to start going on the offence 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,” Waltz told CBS News’ Face the Nation.

He also said the private US technology industry could also be helpful in making adversaries vulnerable as well as aiding in US defence.