Cyber warfare is one of the last frontiers on the modern battlefield. The idea that some digits and letters on a computer screen halfway around the world could be used as a weapon seems outlandish to most people even today, let alone decades ago when it became one of the most secretive ways to wage war. However, cyber warfare has become so advanced and with such crushing real-world consequences that it can easily be considered a digital equivalent of thermonuclear weapons, particularly nowadays, when much (if not most) of our lives are online. In fact, it’s so far-reaching that many had been warning it could cause a real nuclear war. Namely, in the first months of the special military operation (SMO), China cautioned the United States to stop its cyber aggression on Russia, as it had very real consequences that could’ve warranted Moscow’s direct response.

The first reports about undeniable US involvement in these cyberattacks appeared in June 2022, when Sky News interviewed the now-retired General Paul Nakasone, then the head of US Cyber Command. At the time, he openly admitted the US was already conducting offensive cyber operations against Russia, explaining that “the ‘hunt forward’ operations are allowing the US to search out foreign hackers and identify the tools they use against America”. Back then, Nakasone, who also served as Director of the NSA, stated he was “concerned every single day about the risk of a Russian cyberattack” and that the “hunt forward” activities were an “effective way of protecting America”. However, while being “concerned” about an “imminent cyberattack” by the “evil Russians”, he openly stated that America was already conducting its own against the Kremlin in support of the Neo-Nazi junta forces.

“Hunt forward is a key aspect of the Cyber Command’s partnerships. It is so powerful… because we see our adversaries and we expose their tools. Cyber Command specialists have been deployed abroad to 16 other nations where they can seek intelligence from the allies’ computer networks –........

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