DEBATED TACTICS:
An official said oversight would run ‘alongside the operation from start to finish,’ but a professor said that ‘you can’t hand out obedience’
The US is to allow private companies to hack foreign cybercriminal groups after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum that directed the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Homeland Security to allow some US firms to spy on and attack transnational criminal organizations.The White House said that the damage caused by ransomware, “sextortion” and online fraud cost Americans more than US$20 billion last year.The memorandum calls for authorizing private partners to take down hackers’ servers or to infiltrate their machines with spyware.
A man works at the US Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in Arlington, Virginia, on Aug. 22, 2018.
Each operation requires prior government approval and companies have to post a bond of at least US$1 million. Any action that could cause death or injury is excluded, as is anything that would meet the threshold of “use of force” under international law.The effort has parallels with 18th-century “privateering,” when governments would authorize private ships or sailors to carry out raids on enemy vessels.
