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President Trump has signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum allowing vetted private companies to conduct offensive cyber operations abroad against transnational criminal organisations targeting Americans under DHS and Justice Department oversight.

President Donald Trump has signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum permitting private companies, operating under federal control and oversight, to carry out offensive cyber operations abroad aimed at disrupting criminal organisations that target Americans.

What the memo authorises

According to Bloomberg, the move marks an expansion of national security operations that have so far been largely carried out by government agencies, with the federal government now formally partnering with private-sector firms to conduct cyberattacks abroad. The memo refers to the targets as foreign cyber-enabled transnational criminal organisations, and permits vetted companies to conduct both surveillance and offensive operations against them.

The White House, in a fact sheet accompanying the memo, cited ransomware attacks, financial frauds and other crimes run by these foreign-based criminal networks as the rationale for the programme. The document divides authorised private-sector activity into two categories, surveillance operations that allow firms to access foreign information systems to gather intelligence, and cyber effects operations that can involve manipulation, disruption, denial, degradation or destruction of foreign information systems, networks or infrastructure.