Estonian officials say they found nothing
malicious during the operation.
The mission, an effort analogous to two nations
working jointly in a military operation on land or
sea, represents an evolution in cyber tactics by
U.S. forces who had long been more accustomed
to reacting to threats but are now doing more
— including in foreign countries — to glean
advance insight into malicious activity and to
stop attacks before they reach their targets.
The Defense Department has worked to
highlight that more aggressive “hunt forward”
strategy in recent years, particularly after Russia
interfered through hacking and covert social
media campaigns in the run-up to the 2016
presidential election. American officials were
on high alert for similar interference in 2020 but
described no major problems on Nov. 3.
“When we look at the threats that we face, from
Russia or other adversaries, it really is all about
the partnerships and our ability to expand
really the scope, scale and pace of operations in
order to make it more difficult for adversaries to
execute operations either in the United States,
Estonia or other places,” Brig. Gen. William
Hartman, commander of the Cyber National
Mission Force, said in a conference call with a
small group of reporters this week.
Estonia, a former Soviet republic, was in some
ways a natural fit for a partnership with Cyber
Command because in years past it has been a
cyber target of nearby Russia, including crippling
attacks on government networks in 2007.
Estonian officials say they have since
strengthened their cyber defenses, created a
cybersecurity strategy and developed their own