Obama has ordered the freezing of US accounts of foreign hackers

The president is trying to estimate the size of the threat. / PC mag

US President Obama on April 1 (not a joke) signed an order to introduce a new program to combat cyber attacks against states. Obama stressed that the measures listed in the decree are aimed "against those who pose a serious threat to our security or economy, damaging important parts of our infrastructure, violating or attacking our computer networks, or stealing trade secrets of American companies or personal data of American citizens in order to profit. "

As a punishment for malicious hackers, the president allows sanctions to be imposed on them, in particular, to freeze their funds located in the United States. And as opponents, he considers all lone hackers, as well as “entities”, which include “partnerships, foundations, joint ventures, corporations, groups, subgroups or other organizations”. As the cybersecurity expert at the New America Foundation, Peter Singer, explains, such a vague description was chosen specifically so that it can be applied to virtually any cyber threat.

Singer notes that the United States has already imposed sanctions on various states and governments in response to hacker attacks. And whether these sanctions have any success is another question.
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Amy Stepanovich, a spokesman for Access - an organization fighting for human rights, claims that the US government has enough ways to fight hackers, and that this decree can be viewed as an overreaction to the breaking of Sony servers and other publicly reported incidents.

Motherboard reviewer believes that sanctions against North Korea, China and Russia - those countries where the United States most often points the finger when it comes to hacker attacks - have not had the impact that was expected of them. In his opinion, most likely the American government understands that a complete and sharp rupture of financial and economic relations with these countries will collapse the world economy. Therefore, the decree makes it possible for Americans to cut off smaller pieces, focusing on bank accounts and other assets of small organizations from other countries.

It is also clear that with a really serious hacker attack, finding those responsible for it can be quite difficult, if not impossible. Burglars of this magnitude, which is implied in this decree, certainly know how to cover their tracks. At best, you can set the country from which the attack took place. Therefore, the way in which the US cyber defense special services will identify specific individuals or organizations responsible for the attacks in order to freeze their assets later is questionable.

Cyber ​​attacks on the US and their assets are not uncommon. The five-day DDoS attack on the GitHub server , which China is accused of, has just ended. Many countries dissatisfied with US foreign policy create special hacker squads . Last year, the Department of State e-mail was cracked. In January, ISIS cyber warriors hacked into accounts in social networks owned by the Pentagon. Also, US security experts have foreshadowed the vulnerability of thousands of gas stations throughout the country.