A few weeks before the presidential election, the United States sent its operatives to Estonia to exchange experience with Estonian specialists in defense against Russian hackers. American and Estonian government officials reported this to The New York Times.
Cooperation between the United States and Estonia on cybersecurity issues is beneficial to both parties. According to the Estonian authorities, increased cooperation with the United States will become a serious deterrent to any attacks from neighboring Russia. In turn, the Americans used this collaboration to gain knowledge that helped them ensure security in the elections.
Estonia, which has one of the most powerful firewalls in Europe, has provided US operatives with the opportunity to work with experts who have extensive experience in detecting and countering Russian hacker attacks. During the 2018 midterm elections, the U.S. government also sent teams to share experiences, but to countries with relatively underdeveloped digital defenses.
The exchange of experience with Estonian specialists allowed the US Cyber Command to study in detail the techniques used by Russian hackers in the attacks on Estonia and compare them with those used in the attacks on the United States.
Earlier, the US Cyber Command reported an increase in the number of teams sent overseas to exchange experience with foreign counterparts. During several of these missions, American operatives discovered new samples of malware used by Russian hackers, which were then published to reduce its effectiveness.