The Trump administration is recruiting private security firms to conduct federal government-authorized operations, including cyberattacks, against overseas-based criminal organizations that commit hacks on US persons, organizations, or government entities.<\/p>\n
In a National Security Presidential Memorandum<\/a> issued Thursday, US President Donald Trump directed the National Coordination Center (NCC), which operates under the Homeland Security Task Force, to develop a program for conducting specific cyber operations that combat foreign transnational criminal organizations (TCOs). The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security will provide oversight. The lynchpin of that program is bringing in private sector companies to participate.<\/p>\n A fact sheet<\/a> that accompanied Thursday\u2019s memo listed ransomware, sextortion schemes, phishing campaigns, financial fraud, and impersonation scams as activities eligible for private-sector security firms to target. The memo said such firms could \u201cconduct Cyber Surveillance Operations and Cyber Effects Operations\u201d against \u201ccyber-enabled\u201d TCOs. Such groups are defined as \u201cany 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\u2019s direction.\u201d<\/p>\nDevil will be in the still-undefined details<\/h2>\n