Private security firms will soon be allowed to hack overseas cybercriminals
Trump memo is first time gov't has authorized private sector to perform cyber attacks.
The Trump administration has announced plans to enlist private security firms to carry out authorized federal operations, including cyber attacks, against overseas criminal organizations that target US interests through cyber means. In a National Security Presidential Memorandum released on Thursday, President Donald Trump instructed the National Coordination Center (NCC), a division under the Homeland Security Task Force, to create a program for conducting targeted cyber operations against foreign transnational criminal organizations (TCOs).
Both the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security will oversee the program. The primary objective of this initiative is to engage private sector companies in the fight against cybercrime. The memo identifies ransomware, sextortion schemes, phishing campaigns, financial fraud, and impersonation scams as activities that these firms could potentially target.
The memo defined a cyber-enabled TCO 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."
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