The US government's Cyber National Command Force (CNCF) is deploying professionals abroad in "hunt forward" operations to assist partner countries in tackling cybercrime and has undertaken 47 operations in 20 countries in the last three years. Though this could aid the global fight against cybercriminals, one expert believes it should be supplemented by increased data sharing between the US and its allies.
The CNCF's commander, Major General William Hartman, unveiled details of the operations during a speech at the RSA security conference in San Francisco on Monday. The US actions were carried out at the request of the partner countries, according to Hartman, who added that the CNCF recently sent 43 of its specialists to Ukraine to the cyber battle against Russia.
Emily Taylor, CEO of Oxford Information Labs and a Chatham House associate fellow, praised the CNCF's actions. On Monday, she spoke before Parliament's National Security Strategy Committee as part of a hearing on the subject of ransomware, emphasizing the significance of international data sharing.
“Barriers to the free flow of evidence across borders” need to be removed to compile cases against these criminals quickly, she told the committee. “If there can’t be international cooperation on cyber crime, then there must be some sort of response from the international community that does abide by the rules,” Taylor added.
While countries like Russia are unlikely to prosecute their own cybercriminals, other countries must be able "to call them out for failing" to do so, according to Taylor.
Taylor added. “International cooperation at this time is incredibly challenging, but we will need something if we actually want these criminals to go to jail,” she said. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, are carrying out similar operations. Last year, Foreign Office minister Leo Docherty told Sky News that UK spies were "already on the frontline" assisting Ukraine's efforts to repel Russian forces.
Taylor believes that more cross-border sharing of digital evidence will be necessary to connect these missions.
“The US, EU and UK are really close allies, you shouldn’t be able to put a piece of paper between them, let alone have international cyber crime investigations thwarted because of lack of data sharing or lack of confidence,” she said.