The White House has imposed sanctions on Russian intelligence officers and ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats who are believed to be spies in response to Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election through malicious cyber activities, USA Today reported Thursday.David Jackson writes President Barack Obama also ordered the closure of two Russian establishments in New York and Maryland through an amended executive order that details economic sanctions on institutions and individuals involved in the misappropriation or alteration of data in order to undermine election processes.
Obama said the sanctions will affect Russian intelligence entities FSB and GRU, three firms that offered material support to GRU’s cyber activities and four GRU officers and that he will submit a report to Congress about Russia’s involvement in previous U.S. elections through malicious cyber operations, Jackson reports.
President-elect Donald Trump said in a statement that he will meet U.S. intelligence leaders next week to get updates on the issue, according to USA Today.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Russia will develop measures in response to U.S. sanctions, the report added.
The Department of Homeland Security, FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Thursday released a joint statement that claims Russia has been involved in cyber hacking operations against the U.S. government, political and private sector firms, critical infrastructure and citizens as part of a decade-long campaign.
The FBI and DHS also issued a joint analysis report to provide information on the tools that Russian intelligence services used to hack networks related to the U.S. election, according to the joint statement.
The three agencies also asked private companies and security firms to examine their network traffic for indicators of malicious cyber activity that have been added by DHS to the Automated Indicator Sharing service.
