The specific standards the government will use to screen the companies will be drafted by the program executive directors — in coordination with the Homeland Security Council — within 60 days of the memo’s signing. Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
The feds want private companies to take the fight to cybercriminals
A new program would put vetted companies in a more active role against transnational criminal groups, with DHS and Justice overseeing the operations.
The National Coordination Center will create a program allowing authorized U.S. companies to conduct cyber operations against transnational criminal organizations at the direction of the federal government, according to a memorandum signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Program executive directors from the departments of Homeland Security and Justice will have the authority to greenlight companies’ cyber operations unless the authorization would result in a loss of life, serious injury or “rise to the level of use of forced or armed attack under international law.”
The federal government would vet and conduct oversight of authorized companies, which would need to enter into contractual agreements with either DHS or Justice.
The specific standards the government will use to screen the companies will be drafted by the program executive directors — in coordination with the Homeland Security Council — within 60 days of the memo’s signing. They will include technical proficiency, proven performance of cyber operations, facility security, personnel vetting, competence and reliability, according to the document.
The group will ensure that program participation criteria enable involvement from large and small companies, and that operations target only transnational criminal organizations.
The memo also allows participating companies to enter into commercial agreements with other private sector entities, federal agencies and state entities. The program executive directors will produce a report on the initiative’s status and submit it to the National Cyber Director and Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor.
The cybersecurity program seeks to build on a March executive order laying out steps to combat cybercrime. That order was released alongside a national security strategy that called for the government to more directly respond to adversarial threats and secure critical U.S. technologies.
In a statement, Mike Centrella — the head of public policy at SecurityScorecard — said the document “represents an important shift in how the United States approaches cyber threats originating overseas.”
“Strengthening defenses remains critical, but the memorandum recognizes that addressing cybercrime also requires identifying and disrupting the infrastructure and networks that allow criminal organizations to operate,” he said, adding that the guidance “signals an evolution in public-private cybersecurity collaboration — from primarily sharing information about threats toward combining government authorities with private-sector intelligence and capabilities to more actively disrupt them."