White House Imposes Sanctions In Response To Malicious Russian Cyber Activity

On Dec. 29, 2016, in response to the Russian government's "aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election," President Obama issued an Executive Order Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency with Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities. This Executive Order amended Executive Order 13694, "Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities," issued on April 2, 2015 to address the threat posed by malicious cyber actors.

Amended and Additional Authority

By way of background, Executive Order 13694 authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, to impose sanctions on individuals or entities that engage in malicious cyber-enabled activities that create a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, economic health or financial stability of the United States. The