Private security firms will soon be allowed to hack overseas cybercriminals

The Trump administration is planning to enlist private security firms to conduct federal government-approved cyber attacks against overseas criminal organizations that target U.S. interests, according to a National Security Presidential Memorandum released on Thursday. President Donald Trump tasked the National Coordination Center, under the Homeland Security Task Force, with creating a program specifically aimed at combating foreign transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) through cyber operations.

The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security will provide oversight. The government's main focus will be on companies from the private sector, though the specifics of their role remain undefined. Eligible activities include ransomware attacks, sextortion schemes, phishing campaigns, financial fraud, and impersonation scams. These companies would be authorized to "conduct Cyber Surveillance Operations and Cyber Effects Operations" against "cyber-enabled" TCOs, which are defined as "any foreign group that conducts cyber-enabled crime against the United States Government, a United States person, or United States interests, and that is not an institutional part of a foreign government or wholly operated under a foreign government’s direction."