US Cyber Command Partners With Lithuanian Counterparts in Hunt Forward Operation

Elements from the U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force and Lithuanian cyber forces have partnered in a hunt forward operation. The HFO, conducted over three months and concluded in May, was the first in Lithuania involving U.S. and Lithuanian cyber operators.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joe Hartman, CNMF commander, said such operations expose how malicious actors attack government networks.

The HFO in Lithuania sought to identify and observe malicious cyber activity threatening both countries. The shared insights gathered can boost homeland defense and make critical networks more resilient to cyberattacks, CYBERCOM said.

Margiris Abukevicius, Lithuania’s deputy minister of national defense, noted that the cyberattacks carried out in the Ukraine war indicate the need for advanced preparation to secure critical networks.

A three-month HFO was also concluded by the CNMF in Latvia in May. 

As of May 2022, the CNMF had accommodated 28 HFOs in 16 allied countries, including in Estonia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Ukraine.