Security News > 2023 > March > Uncle Sam reveals it sent cyber-soldiers to Albania to hunt for Iranian threats

US Cyber Command operators have confirmed they carried out an online defensive mission in Albania, in response to last year's cyber attacks against the local government.

Over the course of the three-month deployment, Cyber National Mission Force troops worked with their Albanian counterparts to hunt for cyber threats and identify vulnerabilities on networks in the NATO country.

"The United States is committed to working with Albania on securing its digital future, and ensuring that connectivity is a force for innovation, productivity, and empowerment," Nathaniel Fick, US ambassador-at-large for cyberspace and digital policy, declared in a statement published on Thursday about the cyber mission in Albania.

"We will continue to support our NATO ally Albania's remediation efforts, and invite partners to join us alongside our NATO allies in holding Iran accountable for its destructive cyber attacks against Albania in July and September 2022," he added.

The foreign countries benefit from US cyber security tools and threat intel, and Cyber Command gets to put sensors on networks, which gives the military better visibility into threats beyond the borders of the United States.

While the hunt forward teams don't actually mitigate the threats - in the case of Albania, the cyber operators provided technical findings from their network hunt to the Albanian government - they do provide a real-time look into threat actors' behavior, US Army Major General William Hartman, commander of Cyber National Mission Force, explained in a statement.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/us_hunt_forward_albania/