Trump seeks to curb foreign cyber meddling on last day in office

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Outgoing President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the U.S. Commerce Department to restrict or ban cloud computing products of foreign actors who use them for malicious cyber operations, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.

The order - due to be released on Tuesday, Trump's last full day in office - directs the Commerce Department to write rules to restrict or prohibit foreign transactions in cloud computing products or services, if a foreign actor or jurisdiction uses them for malicious cyber operations.

It will also require U.S. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers to verify the identity of foreign persons with whom they do business and to retain certain records.

The order follows a massive hacking campaign which used U.S. tech company SolarWinds as a springboard to penetrate federal government networks. Senior U.S. officials and lawmakers have alleged that Russia is to blame for the hacking spree, a charge the Kremlin denies.

Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who will take the oath of office on Wednesday, could easily revoke an executive order issued in the waning days of the Trump presidency. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Howard Goller)