NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The Russian invasion of Ukraine goes beyond being an international incident, and every level of government is on the lookout for a possible cyber attack.
In a phone interview Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy told WCBS 880 that New Jersey has been gearing up for a possible intrusion, but concerns remain high.
"We didn't just begin to prepare over the last 24 hours, we've been building toward this and making certain that we were as robust in our defenses as possible," Murphy said. "Nobody is immune ... we're all vulnerable. I think we have put in place as good a set of protocols as you could hope for preemptively, but that doesn't mean that we're not still vulnerable in one form or another."
The governor said this goes beyond state government, warning counties, towns and private enterprises are also vulnerable.
"We'll do everything to work together and to be as strong as we can," Murphy assured.
Central Jersey Congressman Tom Malinowski, a former State Department official, shares Murphy's concerns.
"Putin has demonstrated that he is capable of hitting us with cyber weapons, he did it last year," said Malinowski. "Our cyber defenses are not perfect."
Although he said the U.S. has its own cyber weapons, and they could be better than Russia's.
"I think what protects us, if anything protects us, is a willingness to hit back hard," Malinowski said.
Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany, described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as "our worst nightmare."
"This is a terrorist at the top of a nuclear state attacking an innocent country in a horrific way, and it is your worst nightmare," Murphy said. "This is the first war of this scale in Europe in many decades and this is a Vladimir Putin war entirely of choice with no merit, and there's enormous concern."
The governor also expressed concerns about the economy and believes the U.S. should focus on energy independence.
President Joe Biden hit back against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, unleashing robust new sanctions, ordering the deployment of thousands of additional troops to NATO ally Germany, and declaring that America will stand up to Russia's Vladimir Putin.
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, calls the new round of sanctions "very significant."
He believes, however, that there is more that could be done, including cutting off Russia from the international financial transaction system, taking action against Belarus and pursuing Putin personally.
"Some of these sanctions that have been levied out are more significant than have been levied at any time before against any other country, but then again, the nature of the actions that Putin has taken, the war that he's created without cause, without threat, and what it means to the European continent, what it means to global stability calls for that type of sanction," Menendez said.
Menendez said Putin's "end game" is to recreate as much of the Soviet Union as he can and warned he would face severe consequence should there be a Russian incursion into NATO territory.
"I don't know where he stops, but I do know this, this is a moment to ensure that we don't repeat history like we did in 1938," Menendez said. "Putin only understands strength, he's KGB, so if we continue to work to ratchet up the consequences to him then I don't think he'll go into another country and then of course if it's a NATO country... then I think he understands that the consequences of that global coalition would be far more than he should take on."
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