{"id":198594,"date":"2026-03-23T22:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/google-launches-threat-disruption-unit-stops-short-of-calling-it-offensive\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T00:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T04:20:12","slug":"google-launches-threat-disruption-unit-stops-short-of-calling-it-offensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/23\/google-launches-threat-disruption-unit-stops-short-of-calling-it-offensive\/","title":{"rendered":"Google launches threat disruption unit, stops short of calling it \u2018offensive\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google launches threat disruption unit, stops short of calling it \u2018offensive\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nextgov.com\/cybersecurity\/2026\/03\/google-launches-threat-disruption-unit-stops-short-calling-it-offensive\/412321\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-03-23 22:23:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.nextgov.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
\nSAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Google\u2019s threat intelligence arm officially launched its anticipated disruptive cyber unit on Monday, which comes as the Trump administration seeks to create a more offensive, proactive U.S. culture in cyberspace against foreign hacker groups and cybercriminals.Company officials notably deemed the unit a defensive operation, however because it focuses on cutting off the paths hackers rely on to breach systems, rather than using technical capabilities to hack into other governments\u2019 or foreign firms\u2019 computer networks.The unit was made public in a keynote address delivered at RSAC Conference by Sandra Joyce, the vice president of Google\u2019s Threat Intelligence Group. \u201cWe\u2019re now in a position where we can and we must actively shape the outcome of adversary behaviors,\u201d she said on stage.Google, like other major tech firms with cybersecurity services, can impede cyber adversaries by leveraging visibility into and control over widely used platforms and infrastructure that attackers routinely depend on to stage, deliver or manage their hacking operations. In recent months, Google has highlighted a series of intricate takedown efforts, and the announcement, executives say, is meant to encourage other firms in the cybersecurity and tech community to adopt a culture of proactive disruption.\u201cThe private sector operates the very infrastructure that adversaries abuse,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cThis gives us a unique vantage point of the technical capabilities that government agencies sometimes don\u2019t have, and disrupting threat actors must become the status quo in our industry.\u201dThe announcement dovetails with the release of the Trump administration\u2019s national cyber strategy, which has focused, in part, on crafting a more offensive culture among U.S. cyber warriors and their private sector counterparts.But Sean Cairncross, the White House cyber czar, made it clear earlier this month that he doesn\u2019t want private sector firms hacking on behalf of the government. Joyce, in a similar fashion, said the unit is not a \u201chacking back\u201d initiative, but makes \u201clegal and ethical use of intelligence to protect our own platforms.\u201dThose legal actions include the practice of getting court orders to take down certain web infrastructure being used by hackers. Other aspects of the unit\u2019s modus operandi include publicly exposing hacking groups, taking down their infrastructure and driving product improvements to prevent hackers from attempting further intrusions.\u201cI think people have had it,\u201d John Hultquist, the company\u2019s chief threat analyst, told reporters of the choice to launch the unit now after years of related efforts involving law enforcement takedowns of hacker infrastructure. \u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about is \u2014 can we deny the adversary the resources it needs to get between the water and the castle?\u201d\u201cIt\u2019s not just about disabling things within the Google ecosystem,\u201d added Charles Carmakal, the chief technology officer at Google subsidiary Mandiant. \u201cWe\u2019re doing this in a way where we want to get more and more collaboration with other partners, so that the disruption is much broader and more impactful to the adversary.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Google launches threat disruption unit, stops short of calling it \u2018offensive\u2019 https:\/\/www.nextgov.com\/cybersecurity\/2026\/03\/google-launches-threat-disruption-unit-stops-short-calling-it-offensive\/412321\/ Publish Date: 2026-03-23…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.nextgov.com\/media\/img\/cd\/2026\/03\/23\/032326GoogleNG\/open-graph.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[30,24,35],"class_list":["post-198594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-breach","tag-cybersecurity","tag-hacker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198596,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198594\/revisions\/198596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}