The United States has reportedly suspended offensive cyber operations against Russia as the Trump administration works to make concessions to Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. According to the Record, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized an order to halt U.S. hacking operations against Russia.
The new guidance affects operations conducted by U.S. Cyber Command, the department of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for hacking and operations in cyberspace, but does not apply to espionage operations conducted by the National Security Agency.
The New York Times and The Washington Post confirmed the order.
According to reports, the order was issued before a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday between US President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The New York Times said the directive was part of a broader effort to attract Russian President Vladimir Putin to talks on the country's ongoing war in Ukraine.
U.S. Cyber Command and the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment, but a senior defense official told the Record that the command does not "discuss cyber intelligence, plans or operations."
The Guardian also reported that the Trump administration has stated that it no longer regards Russian hackers as a cybersecurity threat, and is said to have ordered the U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA to no longer report Russian threats. The newspaper cited a recent memo outlining CISA's new priorities, including threats to China and protecting local systems, but the memo did not mention Russia. CISA employees were reportedly given verbal notices to suspend any work related to Russian cyber threats.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CISA, denied the report in a statement. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said the memo did not come from the Trump administration. "CISA remains committed to addressing all cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, including threats from Russia, and there has been no change in our posture and priorities in this regard."
According to reports, just months after the U.S. intelligence community said Russia posed a "persistent cyber threat" to the United States, the Trump administration's Russia policy changed. The United States warned in its annual threat assessment that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) continues to target U.S. government agencies and critical infrastructure such as underwater cables and industrial control systems.
The U.S. government has also taken action against a large number of Russian cybercriminals over the past few years. The U.S. government has also taken action against a large number of Russian cybercriminals: successfully disrupting the infrastructure of Russian-linked ransomware groups, recovering millions of dollars in ransom payments to Russian hackers, and prosecuting and sanctioning some of the most notorious Russian hackers.