President authorizes sanctions against certain cyber-enabled activities

President Obama yesterday issued an executive order authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to impose sanctions on foreign 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. According to the president, the activity must have certain purposes or effects, which include significantly harming or compromising critical infrastructure. The health care and public health sectors are part of the nation’s critical infrastructure.