Trump Cyber Strategy Taps Private Firms to Fight Foreign Hackers
“For most of American history, letters of marque were paper. The 2026 version runs on code.”
President Donald Trump’s recently launched cyber strategy appears to enlist private companies in the fight against foreign hackers.
The presidential memorandum, released late Wednesday, comes as the Trump administration has repeatedly pushed for more aggressive action to counter foreign scams and cyberattacks, which the White House said cost Americans nearly $21 billion last year.
The memo represents one of the biggest shifts in U.S. cyber policy undertaken in recent years. It would empower tech and security companies — whose data and control over internet infrastructure often offer unique insight into foreign hacking operations — to mount state-sanctioned digital strikes.
Companies that want to participate would be required to sign contracts with both the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security and to undergo what the memo describes as “rigorous vetting” while working with the government. The overall effort would be overseen by a National Coordination Center, established in an earlier Trump administration executive order, with co-executive directors from DOJ and DHS.
The memorandum, Expanding Capabilities to Combat Transnational Cyber-Enabled Crime, creates a federal program that lets carefully vetted U.S. cybersecurity companies help identify and disrupt foreign criminal groups that commit online fraud and other cybercrime against Americans. These companies would operate only with U.S. government approval, direction, and oversight through the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS). It also requires safeguards to prevent improper targeting (especially of U.S. people or systems) and requires companies to stop and report any activity that goes beyond an approved operation.
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.…
— Chris Wysopal (@WeldPond) August 13, 2026
The move comes as coordinated attacks on U.S. water systems expose how internet-connected industrial controls can turn basic public services into geopolitical targets.
The DOJ and DHS are expected to develop plans for the new program over the next 2 months.
Participating companies must also deposit $1 million in an escrow account. The deposit will be forfeited “should the Participating Company enter non‑compliance with its contractual agreement described” in the memo.
Many of the specifics of the policy remain undefined. These details will be crucial to determining how effective and judicious the program will be. The memo directs the Justice and Homeland Security departments to deliver the particulars in the next 60 days.
Some cybersecurity experts have concerns about the practical implementation of this scheme.
Paul Rosenzweig is in that camp. He leads a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., and was deputy assistant homeland security secretary for policy under President George W. Bush.
“It’s not an incomparably bad idea, but it’s a bad idea,” said Rosenzweig.
He also says the order doesn’t address the number of practical and legal issues any private actor would have to deal with if they hacked a foreign organization.
“Anything that our new cyber-enabled private sector actors do overseas will assuredly be against the domestic law of a host of countries wherein they act,” Rosenzweig said. “The internet is not bounded in by sovereign borders in the same way that physical space is.”
The memo wouldn’t allow private businesses to launch cyberattacks on other governments, but many foreign cybercriminals operate in a grey area between state-sponsored and not. Targeting the wrong group could end up inciting an international incident.
As I have noted before, using artificial intelligence in hacking efforts creates a whole new level of risk in cybersecurity. It would be wonderful to actually get ahead of problems instead of dealing with them after they occur.
The Trump administration’s proposal recognizes a basic reality: cybercriminals exploit open networks and weak defenses faster than government bureaucracies can often respond. Properly vetted private-sector expertise could give our nation a needed advantage, if there are tight oversight and effective execution.
Consider the memorandum the letters of marque for the internet era.
For the first time, private American companies can be authorized to break into foreign criminal networks and burn them down. Nobody has said yet who actually pulls the trigger. https://t.co/lAfYbIwj54
— Mack Claffey (@mackclaffey) August 18, 2026
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