Nine cyber defense missions launched by US Cyber Command

CyberScoop reports that the U.S. Cyber Command has deployed nine "hunt forward" operations aimed at helping various countries strengthen their cybersecurity defenses against increasingly sophisticated threats last year. These are countries that have asked for our assistance, deploying our defensive teams for being able to identify malware and tradecraft our adversaries were using and then sharing that broadly with a commercial provider," said National Security Agency Director and Cyber Command Chief Gen. Paul Nakasone during a Vanderbilt University event. Ukraine was among the countries that received Cyber Command assistance in bolstering cyber resilience, with a Cyber National Mission Force hunt-forward team visiting the country in December. Nakasone also discouraged downplaying Russia's lack of cyber aggression outside Ukraine, a sentiment shared by National Security Agency Director of Cybersecurity Rob Joyce. "There was some really, extra-unethical cyber pressure brought to Ukrainian internet networks by Russia. You know, don't be dismissive that just because that didn't come directly at the U.S. as much as it did Ukraine that we didn't have a major event," Joyce said in the same event.