Statement By US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew On The Executive Order Targeting Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities

"The Treasury Department is committed to protecting the U.S. financial system from a range of state and non-state actors.  Today’s Executive Order allows us to expose and financially isolate those who hide in the shadows of the Internet to conduct malicious cyber activities that threaten the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States.
 
This authority is a powerful new tool to help protect our security and economy against those who would exploit the free, open, and global nature of the Internet to cause harm.  We intend to use this authority carefully and judiciously against the most serious cyber-threats to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure."