President Trump signs a memo letting the US government partner with private companies to conduct cyberattacks abroad against criminal groups targeting Americans

Bloomberg 2026-08-14 Patrick Howell O'Neill

Context & Ripple Effects

The memo turns an approach floated in the administration's planned cyberstrategy shift and earlier draft strategy for private offensive cyber help into an authorization for government-private partnerships. It also follows the administration's March order directing officials to identify stronger tools against transnational criminal organizations.

The immediate significance is operational: private companies move from prospective contributors to potential government partners in actions against foreign criminal groups that target Americans.

First-order effects

US agencies can partner with private companies for cyberattacks abroad against the specified criminal groups, expanding the set of actors available for those operations.
Private cybersecurity companies gain a government-sanctioned route to participate in offensive work that the earlier strategy discussions had contemplated.

Second-order effects

Companies seeking such partnerships will need to align their services and operating models with government-directed overseas missions, concentrating demand around firms able to work with federal agencies.
The administration's March cybercrime executive order now has a more concrete implementation path, linking its search for robust tools to private-sector participation.

Third-order effects

If the authorization becomes a recurring operating model, US cyber policy would shift further from government-only execution toward contracted or partnered offensive capacity against transnational criminal groups.
That model would make the boundaries governing private participation in overseas cyber operations a central feature of US cyber strategy, rather than a one-off policy proposal.

The trend: US cyber policy is moving toward formal public-private operational partnerships for countering foreign criminal groups.

Discussion

@weldpond Chris Wysopal on x
This is a pretty big shift in U.S. cyber policy. The White House is setting up a program that would let private cybersecurity companies conduct government-authorized operations against foreign cybercriminal groups, including surveillance and disruption of their infrastructure.
@patrickjwitt Patrick Witt on x
Cybercrime cost Americans nearly $21B last year, up 26% YoY and climbing, with about a third of it involving crypto. Today, President Trump signed an NSPM empowering the private sector to work with the U.S. government to go on offense against the transnational criminal orgs behi…
@luke_metro @luke_metro on x
Crypto was a transfer of wealth from America to North Korean hackers, but now Mythos can transfer the wealth back
@zackkorman Zack Korman on x
Cyber letters of marque hell yea, we ball. So much for the “careful balance between attackers and defenders” narrative. Sometimes being good at attacking is good defense. [image]
@profwoodward Alan Woodward on x
Washington just licensed private companies to hack on its behalf. It's a modern letter of marque: privateers got a commission and a cut of the plunder, these firms get a contract and a bond. History already ran this experiment. Worth asking why we're running it again.
@joshuasteinman Joshua Steinman on x
Wake up babe the new @WhiteHouse cyber privateering construct just dropped https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@_johnhammond John Hammond on x
✅ I acknowledge I have read and understood the information presented https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@rapidresponse47 @rapidresponse47 on x
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Expands Capabilities to Combat Transnational Cyber-Enabled Crime https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@citybureaucrat @citybureaucrat on x
This is a good idea
@cljack Charlotte Lee on x
so if I'm understanding this correctly it's now possible to entirely fund your private company's R&D efforts by simply taking the money out of unsecured adversary infrastructure
@8teapi Prakash on x
Hilarious, the White House is licensing tech firm to go hack overseas criminals. I guess that's a good way to test the models.
@yonashav Yo Shavit on x
so are rogue AI agents CE-TCOs by default?
@perkinscr97 @perkinscr97 on x
After 200 years, American Privateers are back. “The American private sector is the most innovative and technologically advanced in the world, and its scale, speed, and capacity secure a critical offensive cyber advantage for the United States.” Security is about to be restored. […
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
Mythos is about to put on a superhero outfit. [image]
Mario Vuksan Mario Vuksan on linkedin
Four weeks ago an AI escaped a lab and hacked a real company. Today Washington licensed private firms to hack. — White House reinvented privateering without saying the word. …
Jason Healey Jason Healey on linkedin
My take on the new White House NSPM on private-sector offensive cyber, some picked up by the always great Eric Geller: …
Michael Garcia Michael Garcia on linkedin
Appreciate the The New York Times and Dustin Volz for including my thoughts on the recent White House memo on offensive cyber operations — https://lnkd.in/...
Marshall S. Rich Marshall S. Rich on linkedin
A strong and necessary step toward disrupting the transnational criminal networks targeting Americans. …
Aaron Cooper Aaron Cooper on linkedin
A lot happening here in this new EO on private sector cyber surveillance ("collecting information and intelligence") and cyber operations …
@orinkerr Orin Kerr on bluesky
Trump Administration announces a “hacking back” program, in which (if I read this correctly) companies can work with the government and can be legally authorized to hack back. — Interesting CFAA issues, a few thoughts on that below. — whitehouse.gov/presidential... [image]
@kendraserra Kendra Albert on bluesky
Get in loser, we're doing letters of marque and reprisal. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
@zackwhittaker.com Zack Whittaker on bluesky
Thanks to @malwarejake.bsky.social for the context on this policy change, saying that Americans participating in these operations could “easily be classified as non-uniformed combatants while traveling overseas” and face criminal charges, similar to how DOJ has indicted Russian/C…
@zackwhittaker.com Zack Whittaker on bluesky
New, by me: For the first time, the Trump administration says it's going to allow some vetted U.S. private companies to launch cyberattacks and surveillance operations against overseas criminals and hackers, like ransomware gangs. — Ad-block bypass: web.archive.org/web/20260813…
@kevincollier Kevin Collier on bluesky
With all the many caveats that there are lot unforeseen bad directions this could go, I...don't think this is the worst idea? If CrowdStrike gets limited authority to hack the Comm of Scattered Spider and there becomes a little less cybercrime in the world, surely that's a good …
@goldstein.latinsky.app Goldstein on bluesky
White House is basically creating a letters of marque program for cyber warfare. The cyber sea is the ocean of the 21st century.
@ericjgeller.com Eric Geller on bluesky
Trump tonight ordered the government to create a process that will let vetted companies hack cybercrime gangs. After years of debate about cyber privateers, this White House is going for it. Can't even begin to imagine all the legal questions this will raise. www.whitehouse.gov…
@maggiemiller Maggie Miller on bluesky
President Trump tonight signed a memorandum that allows authorized private companies to carry out operations combatting foreign-enabled cybercrime. Participating groups would be vetted and sign contracts with DOJ/DHS. Massive sea change in cyber policy: www.whitehouse.gov/presi…
@campuscodi@mastodon.social Catalin Cimpanu on mastodon
New White House memo instructs the NCC to establish a program through which private companies can apply for approval to carry out offensive cyber ops against cybercrime groups — Memo: https://www.whitehouse.gov/... Fact sheet: https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
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