Karen DeYoung

The Trump administration announced sanctions and criminal indictments against an Iranian hacker network it said was involved in “one of the largest state-sponsored hacking campaigns” ever prosecuted by the United States, targeting hundreds of US and foreign universities, as well as dozens of US companies and government agencies, and the United Nations. None of the alleged hackers were direct employees of the Iranian government, but all worked at the behest of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, officials said.

The Obama Administration announced sweeping new measures against Russia on Dec 29 in retaliation for what US officials have characterized as interference in 2016’s presidential election, ordering the expulsion of Russian “intelligence operatives” and slapping new sanctions on state agencies and individuals suspected in the hacks of US computer systems. The response, unveiled just weeks before President Barack Obama leaves office, culminates months of internal debate over how to react to Russia’s election-year provocations.

In recent months, the FBI and CIA have concluded that Russia intervened repeatedly in the 2016 election, leaking damaging information in an attempt to undermine the electoral process and help Donald Trump take the White House. Because Dec 29's announcement is an executive action, it can be undone by the next administration. President Obama also ejected 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposed sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services.