Trump Administration Announces New "Hacking Back" Program

The Trump Administration announced a new program on hacking back last week, allowing United States companies to hack back in some circumstances in cooperation with United States officials. The program is premised on some interesting theories about the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and I think it raises a lot of complicated issues under that statute. In this post, I wanted to take a look at some of them. First, here's the language from the Trump Administration's announcement: . . . . The National Coordination Center (NCC), established pursuant to section 6(d) of Executive Order 14159 of January 20, 2025 (Protecting the American People Against Invasion), shall create, manage, and maintain a Program to authorize Participating Companies, as defined in section 4(f) of this memorand