April 2, 2015
US president Barack Obama has issued an executive order declaring a national emergency due to the threat posed by cyber attacks.
The order empowers the US Treasury to use financial sanctions against foreign actors who threaten critical infrastructure, seek to steal financial data or trade secrets, or launch denial-of-service attacks.
In the order, Obama said that he found “the increasing prevalence and severity of malicious cyber-enabled activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
