According to The Record, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the order to halt hacking operations against Russia, which impacts activities carried out by U.S. Cyber Command, a division of the Department of Defense focused on cyber operations. However, this does not apply to espionage activities by the National Security Agency.
The order has been confirmed by both The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The decision was made prior to a meeting on Friday between U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to reports. The New York Times said that the instruction came as part of a broader effort to draw Russian President Vladimir Putin into talks about the country’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
U.S. Cyber Command and the Pentagon did not respond to TechCrunch's inquiries, but a senior defense official told The Record that they do not "discuss cyber intelligence, plans, or operations."
According to The Guardian, the Trump administration has indicated that it no longer views Russian hackers as a cybersecurity threat and allegedly instructed the U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA to cease reporting on Russian threats. The newspaper refers to a recent memo outlining new priorities for CISA, which include addressing threats from China and securing local systems, but the memo did not address Russia. CISA employees were reportedly told verbally to halt work on Russian cyber threats.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CISA, denied these claims in a statement to TechCrunch.
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, stated that the memo did not originate from the Trump administration and emphasized that "CISA remains committed to addressing all cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, including those from Russia." She added, "There has been no change in our posture or priority on this front," in a statement to TechCrunch.
The reported shift in U.S. policy towards Russia comes just months after the U.S. intelligence community labeled Russia as an "enduring cyber threat." In its annual threat assessment, the U.S. warned that Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) continues to target U.S. government agencies and critical infrastructure, such as underwater cables and industrial control systems.
In recent years, the U.S. government has taken significant action against Russian cybercriminals, disrupting the infrastructure of Russia-linked ransomware groups, reclaiming millions in ransom payments, and issuing indictments and sanctions against some of the most notorious Russian hackers.