Oct 27, 2026 · 55 min
Private cyber operators face limits against state-backed hackers
Why America's New Cyber Privateers Can't Go After North Korea
The proposed framework could expand America’s offensive response to criminal networks while leaving the most consequential state-backed targets to government agencies.
- 1Letters of marque could authorize vetted companies to disrupt cartels, scam networks, ransomware groups, and other transnational criminals.
- 2North Korea’s Lazarus Group remains outside the privateer framework because targeting a state-backed actor carries escalation risks.
- 3AI is making cyberattacks more decentralized, increasing both the case for offensive tools and the need for government guardrails.
Don't miss
Redbord and Giancarlo clarify why private cyber operators may target criminal networks but cannot independently retaliate against North Korea.
The brief
Ari Redbord of TRM Labs and former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo examine whether private companies should help conduct offensive cyber operations against transnational criminal networks.
Giancarlo’s proposal revives constitutional letters of marque and reprisal for the digital age, while a national security memo outlines vetting, authorization, and government safeguards.
The potential targets include cartels, scam compounds, ransomware groups, and illicit marketplaces whose infrastructure can be infiltrated, monitored, or disrupted.
North Korea is the crucial exception: its state-backed hackers may steal crypto at scale, but retaliation against the regime remains a government responsibility because escalation is unavoidable.
The discussion closes on a broader problem: AI and deepfake-enabled infiltration are lowering the barrier to attack, making private cyber power useful and dangerous at once.
What was said on this episode
26 statements · 12 positive · 9 negative · 1 mixed · 4 neutral
State-sponsored actors should be targeted by federal agencies, not private companies.
“In the case of a state-sponsored actor, it'll have to come from a federal government law enforcement or military agency and not a private sector.”
Listen at 0:16
Ransomware attacks increasingly operate without humans in the loop.
“In 2026, we've seen end to end human out of the loop ransomware attacks.”
Listen at 4:21
AI could massively increase ransomware attack volume.
“So that 7,500 attacks could be 75,000 attacks or 7 million attacks.”
Listen at 4:35
Private-sector cyber capabilities should be authorized to hack back criminal actors.
“why not modernize it from the 21st century and unleash really the awesome innovation capability of our own private sector to respond to these state-sponsored hackers like the Lazarus Group and others and hack them back?”
Listen at 7:32
Governments should use offensive cyber tools against criminal actors.
“we should absolutely be using these tools”
Listen at 9:48
The government needs private-sector innovation to match cybercriminal capabilities.
“we need to turn to the private sector to really get the kind of innovation that's going to be on par. With the bad guys”
Listen at 14:43
The current framework limits contractors to private criminal actors.
“They actually can't go after state actors. They can only go after black-hatted private actors.”
Listen at 16:03
The August executive order permits private action against criminal organizations, not nation states.
“the executive order in August is very much directed towards allowing the US private sector to go after these types of transnational criminal organizations, but not the rogue nation state actors.”
Listen at 17:40
Private offensive operations could inadvertently trigger war.
“You don't want to back yourself into a war inadvertently.”
Listen at 18:32
Transnational criminal organizations steal hundreds of billions annually.
“these transnational criminal organizations are stealing hundreds of billions a year from small businesses, from individuals.”
Listen at 20:55
Scam networks use trafficking victims in compounds across Southeast Asia.
“what they've done basically is they have human trafficking victims living in these scam compounds in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia and beyond.”
Listen at 24:06
Authorities can recover proceeds from transnational scam networks.
“we were able to seize back many of the proceeds of these types of scams.”
Listen at 25:15
Authorities should map criminal networks and target their infrastructure.
“what you need to do is you need to build out the network and then you need to target it”
Listen at 27:22
Government vetting and control are essential safeguards for private contractors.
“the extreme vetting and the control that the government maintains.”
Listen at 33:28
The current privateer framework is appropriately calibrated for now.
“I quite frankly think that this has probably got it just about right. for the time being”
Listen at 34:32
Organizations should use AI to identify vulnerabilities across critical systems.
“we need to be using AI to run over every smart contract, run over every operating system, every water filtration facility, every electric grid hospital system need to be using AI to run over to identify vulnerabilities early”
Listen at 37:25
Non-networked electric grids provide protection against cascading cyberattacks.
“one of the protections we have is the non-networked. capability of our electric grid”
Listen at 38:39
Cyber-enabled criminal theft can justify offensive action without a direct cyberattack.
“it doesn't have to be a cyber attack on us, but that theft. that the way they're engaging that could certainly be be a reason to attack”
Listen at 40:29
The government may be quietly disseminating privateer operating standards.
“It's very possible that they may be disseminating them in a quiet fashion.”
Listen at 41:38
North Korea is currently excluded from privateer targeting.
“North Korea probably is off the table today for these types of privateer.”
Listen at 43:30
U.S. national security agencies should use offensive capabilities against North Korea.
“we absolutely should be. And I am hopeful that the national security agencies and the DOD are using every offensive capability that they have to go after North Korea today.”
Listen at 43:50
Democracies generally respond to closed societies through containment.
“containment... has always, not always, but has generally been the democratic response to close society”
Listen at 47:50
Compliance teams and government agencies need AI tools to detect deepfakes.
“every compliance team every government agency needs to be using ai tools to be able to identify”
Listen at 50:18
Some firms require new hires to work onsite to prevent North Korean infiltration.
“Now firms are requiring any new hire show up at the headquarters office for at least a year”
Listen at 51:26
Elected officials should make escalation and statecraft decisions.
“those choices need to be made by one, by elected officials, by hopefully seasoned, serious, well-balanced people”
Listen at 53:31
Private companies execute government-approved operations without deciding escalation.
“the private sector is not making that call. It's deploying the activity that the federal government has essentially blessed in that instance.”
Listen at 53:57
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
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