CYBERCOM Team Partners With Croatian Experts for Hunt Forward Operations

A team of defensive cyber operators within the U.S. Cyber Command was deployed to Croatia to look for malicious cyber activity on partner networks. The deployment marks the first time CYBERCOM has deployed a team to the Balkan country.

CYBERCOM’s Cyber National Mission Force worked with partners from the Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency‘s Cyber Security Centre to identify threats on networks that support national security.

CNMF team members include experts from the military and civilian sectors. They routinely perform “hunt forward operations” across the globe with the goal of learning adversarial activities and supporting partner nations’ cybersecurity efforts, CYBERCOM said.

According to the hunt forward leader within CNMF, the Croatian cybersecurity team was organized and proactive in hunting threats. The leader, whose name cannot be divulged for security reasons, noted that hunt forward missions also give the combatant command an opportunity to build and strengthen relationships.

Daniel Markic, the director of the Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency, said the country focuses on building international relationships for cybersecurity to prevent state-sponsored attacks. He also pointed out that his country must have a comprehensive response as threats become more complex.

As of August, CNMF has conducted 35 hunt forward missions in 18 countries. The team has performed cyber threat hunting activities in over 50 foreign networks.