The US military cyber officials are reportedly planning to target sensitive data of Russian political elites, though not that of President Vladimir Putin, as a strong signal to the country's decision-makers. Western cyber specialists have explained what the new tactics is about and what fruits it could bear.
The US Cyber Command is developing new cyber warfare tactics that could be used against senior Russian officials in the event that Moscow attempts to interfere in the 2020 presidential race, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing unnamed US officials.
Last year, the Trump administration eased restrictions on the use of cyber-operations by the US military and kicked off the international Cyber Deterrence Initiative, aimed at thwarting alleged “malicious cyber activities” by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea within the framework of its National Cyber Strategy 2018.
Improving Cyber Capabilities & Developing New Cyber Weapons
“Any attempt to influence the internal politics of a state is considered by governments as a threat to its sovereignty and potentially exposes the population to severe risks,” opines Pierluigi Paganini, the chief technology officer at CSE and a member of Italy's ENISA Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group. “For this reason, states are committed in punishing any interference. Almost every government, including the US one is preparing their cyber military to prevent such kind of operations…
