President Obama United States to counter the wave of cyber attacks plaguing American businesses, organizations, and individuals: a new executive order authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the state Attorney General, to impose sanctions against cybercrime, cyber espionage, and other harmful cyberattacks.
“This is the first time I have authorized targeted sanctions against individuals or entities whose cyber actions pose significant threats to the national security, foreign policy, economic health, or financial stability of the United States,” President Obama said. “Our primary goal will be to address threats from abroad. In many cases, diplomatic and legal tools will be our most effective response. But targeted sanctions, used judiciously to give us a new and powerful way to respond to attacks, will be a last resort.”
The United States now has the authority to freeze the assets of attackers who disrupt critical infrastructure, steal trade secrets from American businesses, or profit from the theft of personal information.
The executive order, while not a surprise, is welcomed by the security industry, though questions about how the feds will successfully identify attackers remain.
Stephen Cobb, a security researcher, says the order is a good move to pressure attackers. “Many companies in the US have spent a lot of money improving their IT security and raising awareness among their employees in response to the surge in cyberattacks and cybercrime. But it’s clear that these isolated private sector efforts will not solve the problem of cybercrime,” Cobb says. “Coordinated government action, both nationally and internationally, is urgently needed to target those elements of the global cybercrime infrastructure that continue to exist due to the complicity of corrupt officials and unscrupulous businesspeople who turn a blind eye to cybercrime.”
