The U.S. Goes On the Cyber Offensive

After years of bitter complaints about cyberattacks from foreign adversaries, a new report describes aggressive U.S. cyber plans and intrusions of its own against Russia, a show of long-understood American prowess on the leading edge of warfare.

What’s happening: Experts tell Axios that the leak, published Sunday in the New York Times, may intend to signal the damage that the two countries could suffer in its confrontation with the U.S. But the disclosure also risks exacerbating already-fraught relations.

The big picture: For the last three or so years, the U.S. has been on the receiving end of some of the most damaging cyberattacks in history, climaxing with Russia's hacking of the 2016 presidential election. All in all, it has been an exceedingly embarrassing period for U.S. intelligence agencies, including the massively damaging 2013 theft of surveillance secrets by ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden, and the leak of top National Security Agency hacking tools to the so-called Shadow Brokers.

Read the full conversation and more in Axios.