Sen. Graham wants rules to govern responses to cyber attacks
Sen. Graham wants rules to govern responses to cyber attacks
Publish Date: 2026-03-24 05:00:00
Source Domain: www.postandcourier.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. BEAUFORT — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s plans to appear as the keynote speaker during a March 23 conference on cybersecurity were interrupted by his need to be in Washington, D.C. Instead, he made his comments by way of video to discuss changes he believes are necessary to combat the threat of cybersecurity attacks proliferated by outside actors against the nation.The South Carolina Republican spoke for more than 20 minutes at the South Coast Center and Maritime Cybersecurity Institute Summit, an annual conference focusing on cybersecurity held in Beaufort.
Warren Parker, chairman of the South Coast Cyber Center, noted that there are likely hundreds of cyber attacks launched every day in South Carolina, targeting people, businesses and critical infrastructure. Perpetrators are equally varied. Attacks can focus on something as small as obtaining credit card information or holding a school district hostage via ransomware.
“Some are from nation-state actors. Some are individuals, and some are criminal organizations. It runs the gamut,” Parker said.Speaking on the threat of cybersecurity attacks and the efforts to defend against them, Graham called it a cat-and-mouse game that is going to continue into the foreseeable future.“We live in a digital world, and they have to be right once, and we have to be right every time when it comes to protecting our nation,” he said.
Graham called for developing rules of engagement to govern the response to cybersecurity attacks. He asserted that neither the legal nor political infrastructure has been developed to determine what response an attack on critical infrastructure should elicit.“We’ve got to go on offense, not just play defense,” Graham said, adding that his goal is to put nation states on notice that there will be a price to be paid if a cyber attack can be linked to a government.
Beyond U.S. borders, Graham said that a common view on how to respond to cybersecurity attacks should include NATO. Noting that no NATO nation has ever been attacked by a foreign military, the creation of a collective response to cyber attacks would serve as an enhanced deterrence.
Graham further called for establishing a “gold standard for cybersecurity” in each industry and limiting the liability of organizations operating with those industries if they meet the established standard and still suffer losses as the result of an attack. The limits to liability would, Graham said, provide businesses the incentive to establish and maintain a given level of protection.
“Once you get into that space, you will be protected from lawsuits,” Graham said. “And that’s an incentive, I think, to get people to up their game.”Graham, who has been entrenched in South Carolina politics for more than three decades, was elected to the House of Representative in 1994 and the Senate in 2002. An unflappable supporter of President Donald Trump, Graham has been a strong advocate for the war in Iran.“You screw around with America at your own peril, including cyber attacks. That’s where I am right now,” Graham said.
