US to establish sanctions program to combat cyberattacks, cyberspying

President Barack Obama will sign an executive order establishing the first sanctions program to allow the Administration to impose penalties on individuals overseas who engage in destructive attacks or commercial espionage in cyberspace.

In the works for two years, the order declares “significant malicious cyber-enabled activities” a “national emergency” and enables the treasury secretary to target foreign individuals and entities that take part in the illicit cyberactivity for sanctions that could include freezing their financial assets and barring commercial transactions with them. The move expands the set of legal tools available to the administration to punish and deter activities including the theft of large quantities of credit card data, espionage conducted for commercial gain and cyberattacks aimed at damaging critical computer systems.