The obvious question about Washington’s new private offensive cyber program is which security vendors will join it. The CSO question is what happens to you when one of your vendors does.
The August 12 National Security Presidential Memorandum, “Expanding Capabilities to Combat Transnational Cyber-Enabled Crime,” directs the National Coordination Center to build a program for vetted “Participating Companies.” The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security run it jointly, and two co-executive directors must approve every operation in writing. Once the directors sign, a participating company can run covert access intended to stay undetected (Cyber Surveillance Operations) or man...