U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) moved to expand its operations to identify cyber threat actors from countries like Russia, China and Iran ahead of the presidential elections Tuesday as part of efforts to protect against potential foreign interference, CNN reported Monday.
"USCYBERCOM has a 24/7 ops center, and we are specifically postured for the elections—however, we've integrated election defense into our everyday operations. There are two parts to this: We are enabling our partners, and we are ready to act," an official with the command told the network. "We also have liaison officers embedded with our interagency partners, for better flow of information and coordination."
The USCYBERCOM official said the command has active chatrooms with interagency partners to facilitate sharing of information on cyber threats and will continue to crack down on adversaries even after the elections.
"Also, USCYBERCOM and NSA have the ability to alert interagency and private industry partners to act on information; for example, we may detect a cyber-event from an adversary and can tip a partner to this anomaly — then within hours those partners can alert victims of cyber activity and engage mitigation response. It is the ability for us to act and respond as a whole of government at speed that is significant,” the official added.