Obama orders targeted sanctions over cyber threats against U.S.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered targeted sanctions against hackers committing cyber-attacks that harm critical infrastructure, damage computer systems and steal trade secrets or sensitive information in the United States.

In an executive order, Obama said that increasing malicious cyber-attacks on U.S. targets from outside pose an "unusual and extraordinary" threat to national security, foreign policy and economy of the country.

He declared "a national emergency" to address the threat.

Under the presidential order, the sanctions include freezing all assets of targeted individuals or entities and deny their entry into the United States.

"Cyber threats pose one of the most serious economic and national security challenges to the United States, and my administration is pursuing a comprehensive strategy to confront them," Obama said in a statement.

"As we have seen in recent months, these threats can emanate from a range of sources and target our critical infrastructure, our companies and our citizens," he added, vowing to use a mixture of diplomacy, trade policy tools and law enforcement mechanisms to counter them. Endi