Report: French Cyber Chief Worried US' Hunt Forward Teams May Abuse Trust to Steal Allies’ Secrets

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - France's cybersecurity chief fears that experts sent by the United States to allies to bolster their defenses may be scouring their computer systems for secrets, French media learned.

Comcyber commander Aymeric Bonnemaison told the parliament’s defense committee in December that US Cyber Command’s hunt forward operations in France were "quite aggressive," Le Monde daily reported.

The general said that European allies were uneasy about exposing themselves to American "enterism" giving the US access to their critical networks.

The paper cited cyber experts as saying that a country that gave another country access to its vital infrastructure opened a door to intelligence gathering and espionage.

The US Cyber Command claims its hunt forward operations in allied countries are purely defensive in nature. It has deployed more than 20 such missions to partner countries since 2018, including to Ukraine, where its stated goal is to prevent malicious attacks.