Trump wants to grant private cyber firms a license to hack back
- ID
- 13874
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 13 Aug 2026, 11:04 PM
- Fetched
- 13 Aug 2026, 11:37 PM
- Provider
- The Register
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/08/13/trump-wants-to-grant-private-cyber-firms-a-license-to-hack-back/5287420
- Source URL
- https://www.theregister.com/headlines.atom
Summary
- Score
- 2.0
- Created
- 13 Aug 2026, 11:40 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developers
What happened
Trump signed a memo allowing US government agencies to contract private cybersecurity firms to conduct surveillance and 'Cyber Effects Operations' (disruption, degradation, or destruction of information systems) against foreign cyber-enabled transnational criminal organizations. Contractors must pass rigorous vetting, prove technical capabilities annually, post $1M, and follow operational procedures to be drafted within 60 days; operations targeting US residents require Justice Department authorization.
Why it matters
This is US policy with no direct impact on Malaysian builders, startups, or infrastructure. It only matters if you operate a cybersecurity firm bidding for US government contracts or if your SaaS infrastructure could be caught in crossfire of US-sanctioned offensive operations against foreign criminal networks — a narrow scenario for this audience.
Discussion angle
Brief mention only: whether normalizing private-sector offensive cyber operations could eventually create legal ambiguity for Malaysian-hosted infrastructure caught in US-contracted disruption campaigns — but this is speculative and low priority.