TOPLINE
The Central Intelligence Agency conducted offensive cyber operations against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Russian intelligence agency FSB, and other targets after President Donald Trump issued a secret order in 2018 that gives the agency extensive power to take such actions, Yahoo News reported, citing former US officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
President Donald Trump’s order reportedly allows the CIA to carry out offensive cyber actions without … [+]
KEY FACTS
The secret authorization, issued sometime in 2018, gave the U.S. spy agency more freedom to conduct cyber operations and choose its target, without White House approval, according to the report.
The order effectively lifted many of the restrictions that had previously been applied to the agency by previous administrations, the report added, noting that the CIA has declined to comment on the matter.
The move allowed the agency to engage in offensive cyber operations against “adversary countries,” including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, an official told Yahoo News.
Since the order was signed, the CIA has carried out at least a dozen operations that were on its “wish list.”
This reportedly involved “hacking and dumping” operations similar to those carried out by Russian hackers and WikiLeaks, where stolen documents or data were deliberately leaked online.
Some of the notable incidents include leaking the source code of Iran’s cyber espionage tools, publicly pulling the details of 15 million payment cards from three Iranian banks, and hacking two contractors who worked with Russia’s FSB.
Under previous administrations, senior Treasury Department officials had argued against the leakage or deletion of bank details, such as operations with Iran’s bank cards, “because it could destabilize the global financial system,” the report added.
Prior to this, in 2009, the CIA had carried out one of its highest-profile cyberattacks in association with Israel, called Stuxnet, which destroyed the centrifuges that Iran used to enrich uranium gas for its nuclear program.
Crucial quote
According to the report, former US officials were concerned about the use of hacking and downloading tactics, posing awkward comparisons: “Our government is basically becoming a bloody WikiLeaks, [using] secure communications on the dark web with dissidents, hacking and dumping, “a former unidentified official told Yahoo News.
Key critic
Rebecca Ingber, a former state department attorney and national security expert tweeted that “it is rich that the president who claims that the ‘deep state’ is working to undermine him is happy to delegate such broad authority to cause destruction, it is almost as if it was * not * really * all about strict presidential control over the national security state when it is not about your own personal interests. ” Ingber also speculated that the president’s authorization would likely allow the CIA to make its own decision on the use of force in a foreign state, “potentially bypassing: any NSC process, legal analysis, self-defense determination, approval of Congress.”
Further reading
Exclusive: Trump’s Secret Order Gives CIA More Powers To Launch Cyber Attacks (Yahoo News)
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