Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

U.S. hits North Korea with huge new sanctions in response to Sony hack

Updated Jan 2nd, 2015 2:26PM EST
Image: CBC News

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

The United States just struck back against North Korea for its alleged role in the hack of Sony Pictures. In official statement released on Friday, U.S. president Barack Obama said he was signing an executive order authorizing stiff sanctions against North Korea for its “ongoing provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies, particularly its destructive and coercive cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.”

Bloomberg reports that the order targets 10 individuals in North Korea along with three state agencies and effectively authorizes the Treasury Department to “block the individuals and agencies from accessing the U.S. financial system and banning U.S. citizens from engaging in business with them.”

Although the U.S. government remains convinced that North Korea was behind the hack on Sony, several security experts have expressed skepticism that the country could have carried out such a massive attack without some help from within the company itself.

Given how North Korea is already extremely isolated and already faces multiple sanctions from countries around the world, it’s questionable whether these new sanctions will actually act as a deterrent to the country. That said, these sanctions are a milestone since they’re the first time we can recall a country being economically punished for its attempts to stop a Seth Rogen movie from being released.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.