U.S. President Barack Obama took unprecedented steps Thursday retaliating against what the administration described as ”Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities,” including sanctioning six Russian individuals and five Russian entities, according to CNN.
This is the first time the names of Russian officials involved in the hacking have become public on the sanctions list, CNN reported.
”Russia`s cyber activities were intended to influence the election, erode faith in U.S. democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the U.S. government,” the statement said. ”These actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
According to statements from the White House and the Treasury Department, the government has sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; three companies that provided material support to the GRU`s operations; and two Russian individuals for using cyber-enabled means to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information.
