US Cyber Command is on a cyber offensive

According to a new report by The New York Times, The U.S. has stepped up its digital offensive by targeting the Russian power grids. Some officials spoke to the famed media outlet and elaborated that efforts were being made to show that the U.S. is willing to take on cyber attacks aggressively now.

The New York Times in its report wrote that the previous three months have seen a high deployment of American computer code in Russian grids and other few targets. This action is being considered as a companion to the much more publicized actions against the various disinformation and hacking units that Russia has used to influence and compromise the security of elections.

The officials who spoke to The New York Times said that the power grids “have been a low-intensity battleground for years” and that these have been a target for reconnaissance probes at least since 2012. But now, the American strategy is taking on an offensive posture with the placement of harmful malware inside the Russian system. This kind of cyber offensive has never been tried before.

The country under the leadership of Trump administration seems poised to take on cyber strikes more willingly than before but the world will be hoping for no escalation.