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The United States Secretary of Defense reportedly told Cyber Command to cease all planning and offensive cyber operations against Russia as part of a shift closer to Vladimir Putin.
According to three individuals close to the matter, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has told the US Cyber Command to “stand down” from planning and executing cyber operations against Russia.
The news was reported by cyber security media outlet The Record on 1 March, with General Timothy Haugh, Cyber Command’s commanding officer, informed of the injunction sometime last week.
According to The Record, GEN Haugh then passed the message on to Cyber Command’s soon-to-depart director of operations, Major General Ryan Heritage. The directive does not apply to the National Security Agency and its signals intelligence network, however.
The Record’s sources said that a risk assessment outlining what operations have been curtailed and what threats may remain within Russia is currently being assembled for the Secretary of Defense.
It’s currently unknown whether the directive only covers active cyber operations or if it extends to intelligence gathering and analysis of Russian cyber capabilities.
In a statement provided to The Record, a Defense Department official said: “Due to operational security concerns, we do not comment nor discuss cyber intelligence, plans, or operations. There is no greater priority to Secretary Hegseth than the safety of the warfighter in all operations, to include the cyber domain.”
The move comes against a background of general rapprochement between the US and Russia. Liesyl Franz, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Cyberspace Security within the Department of State’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, told a United Nations cyber security working group last week that the US sees Iran and China as major cyber threats, but she did not mention Russia.
The omission was made despite continuing Russian cyber activity targeting entities within Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe and the threat posed by ransomware operators. Just last week, the LockBit ransomware gang, a prolific Russian-speaking group, claimed to have gained access to information that could destroy the FBI, while it’s alleged that in October 2024, the Evil Corp cyber criminal gang was able to take advantage of links to members of Russia’s FSB to protect itself from US law enforcement.
In December of 2024, a UK investigation into a Russian cyber gang revealed an extensive money-laundering network that supported a web of international drug traffickers and cyber criminals.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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