Security News > 2022 > June > US ran offensive cyber ops to support Ukraine, says general

America's military conducted offensive cyber operations to support Ukraine in its response to Russia's illegal invasion, US Cyber Command chief General Paul Nakasone has said.

"The US brings to bear the formidable capabilities of Cyber Command against rogue nation states. Cyberspace is a new domain for warfare."

Tenable CEO Amit Yoran added: "That the US has engaged in offensive cyber operations should be of no surprise to anyone. There are very few countries around the globe today who do not use such measures. The fact that these operations are acknowledged in a public way is unusual."

While President Joe Biden has indicated the US would respond with kinetic force to a major cyberattack against the West, General Nakasone's comments are the first confirmation of US-sanctioned hacking against Russia.

Nakasone did, in May, reveal that US Cyber Command conducted nine "Hunt forward" operations last year, sending teams to different countries including Ukraine to help them improve their defensive security posture and hunt for cyberthreats.

The agency's first hunt-forward exercise sent a Cyber Command team to Ukraine in 2018 with the goal to "Understand what our adversaries are doing, being able to capture that and then being able to share it," Nakasone said.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/06/02/nakasone_us_hacking_russia/