The U.S. intelligence community relied on American technology companies to battle Russian cyberattackers targeting Ukraine to prevent a catastrophic cyberwar capable of spreading across the Atlantic, The Washington Times has learned.
Details are still emerging about what the U.S. government described as a “power collaboration” teaming private companies, including Microsoft, with the National Security Agency against Russian cyberattackers. The NSA cybersecurity officials’ work with Microsoft and others was intended to stop Russia dead in its tracks before devastating attacks could eviscerate Ukrainian networks and serve as a launchpad for an assault on the United States, U.S. officials said.
“These interactions made big impacts defending Ukrainian networks, as Ambassador Fick noted,” Mr. Joyce said. “They also broadly addressed capabilities that could be used against U.S. government, industry and critical infrastructure. The unique NSA insights partnered with industry’s visibility and capacity to act is a power collaboration, making us all safer at scale.”
After Russia began its assault on Ukraine, an expected large-scale conflict in cyberspace did not immediately materialize. Sen. Mark R. Warner, Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in March 2022 that the government could not fully explain the absence of a major cyberattack.
Microsoft has hidden details of its work with the U.S. intelligence community from public view. After saying Tom Burt, Microsoft corporate vice president of security and trust, would speak with The Times, the company refused to make him or anyone else available for an interview. “Mandiant has been working with our partners in Ukraine and elsewhere since before the invasion to protect our customers and community from Russian cyber espionage and cyberattack,” Mandiant executive John Hultquist said in a statement. “Within the context of this campaign and others we have found that an intelligence lead approach is effective in identifying threats and even thwarting attacks.”
The group’s government website says its success stories include the creation of a “Russia-Ukraine Tensions Plan” in early 2022, running a tabletop exercise gaming out its execution, and the creation of a list of free cybersecurity tools. Big Tech companies are not shy about disclosing their assistance to Ukraine and are expected to reveal more in the coming days as the anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches on Feb. 24.
In December, Microsoft’s Clint Watts said Russian military-intelligence-affiliated cyberattackers had struck at energy, water and other infrastructure organizations’ networks while missiles took out power and water supplies. He said destructive cyberactivity had spread outside Ukraine to Poland in an effort to halt supplies and weapons moving into the country.
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