Apparently who was attacked was on a need-to-know basis and we assume it was successful otherwise we would not need-to-know it ever happened.

The operation was conducted between February and August 2021 by a task force consisting of personnel from the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th Cyber Operations Group, the Delaware Air National Guard’s 166th Cyber Operations Squadron, US Navy’s Cyber Strike Activity Sixty-Three, the U.S. Air Force’s 341st Cyber Operations Squadron, and the Air Force Reserve.

The task force executed the operation from February to August last year, although the Air National Guard (ANG) just announced it this week. While there have been other offensive cyber operations conducted by U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), this is the first undertaken and acknowledged by this task force.

USAF Maj. Corley Bradford, director of operations for 175th Cyberspace Operations Squadron, said the offensive cyber operation involved the security of Department of Defense information networks.

“NMT was a direct contributor to [our task force] conducting a successful offensive cyber effects operation,” Bradford stated in an ANG press release.

“It was a lot of excitement to finally see the fruits of our labour when [our task force] delivered its first offensive cyber effects operations during this mobilisation,” said Bradford.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was on hand to personally witness the operation.