\u201cAnd,\u201d she added, \u201csome argue that we don\u2019t quite know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three months later, in late October, Gen. Paul Nakasone, the chief of both the National Security Agency<\/a> and U.S. Cyber Command, proffered his own opinion, in harmony with Neuberger\u2019s second point: Among the many moving parts and influences, overseas preparations made by the U.S. military helped blunt Russia\u2019s effectiveness in the digital domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFirst lesson learned? Presence matters. We learned that again,\u201d Nakasone said Oct. 12 at a Council on Foreign Relations event. \u201cWhile I would certainly not say that\u2019s the key reason, I think it\u2019s a contributing factor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. dispatched a group of cyber experts to Ukraine<\/a> at the end of 2021, amid rising international tensions and predictions of virtual destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The so-called hunt-forward operation \u2014 a defensive and cooperative measure, undertaken at the invitation of a foreign government \u2014 was designed to root out malicious actors, identify network weaknesses and gain a better understanding of the tools hackers use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe sent a team on Dec. 2, led by a Marine Corps major, and her guidance was this: Go help them, and make sure they\u2019re ready, in terms of anything that may occur,\u201d Nakasone said<\/a>. \u201cShe called back within the first two weeks and said, \u2018Instead of coming home for the holidays, we\u2019re going to be here for awhile.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having the right people in the right room at the right time, the four-star general said, is invaluable. And \u201cbeing able to understand the tradecraft of an adversary? Presence matters. Real presence matters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hunt-forward endeavors are part of CYBERCOM\u2019s persistent engagement strategy, a means of being in constant contact with adversaries<\/a> and ensuring proactive, not reactive, moves are made. The command, tasked with guarding Department of Defense information networks and coordinating cyberspace operations, has conducted dozens of such missions across a range of countries in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyber specialists were previously sent to Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Montenegro and North Macedonia. While some deployments were tied to the 2018 midterm elections in the U.S., efforts in Lithuania, specifically, were connected to the Russian onslaught.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHeaded east<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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