Trump Grants Hacking Authority to Private Companies Against Foreign Cybercriminal Organizations

Government-Approved Firms Can Disable Servers Used by Foreign Hackers and Infiltrate with Spyware
Concerns Over Retaliation and Loss of Control...
"Authority Can Be Granted, But Obedience Cannot Be Guaranteed"

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to allow private companies to monitor and launch attacks against foreign cybercriminal organizations.

On the 14th (local time), AFP reported that President Trump had instructed officials on the 12th to permit U.S. companies to engage in cybercrime counter-operations.

AP Yonhap News

As a result, private companies that receive government approval will be able to take actions such as disabling servers used by foreign hackers or infiltrating hackers’ computers with spyware.

However, all operations must receive prior government approval, and participating companies are required to provide a minimum security deposit of 1 million dollars (approximately 1.42 billion won). Operations that could result in death or injury, as well as those that constitute “use of force” under international law, are also prohibited.

The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security plan to establish specific measures for implementation within 60 days.

The White House stressed the necessity of this measure, noting that losses from ransomware and online fraud in the United States exceeded 20 billion dollars (about 28.4 trillion won) last year.

Some have voiced concerns about potential side effects resulting from granting private companies the authority to conduct cyberattacks.

There are concerns that U.S. companies attacking overseas hackers could become targets of retaliatory attacks, or that private firms might operate beyond the government’s control during such operations.

Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity professor at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, commented, “You can grant authority, but you cannot grant obedience.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.