§9524 Imposition of sanctions with respect to activities of the Russian Federation undermining cybersecurity

Summary

Starting 60 days after August 2, 2017 (October 1, 2017), the President must punish people who knowingly carry out major cyberattacks for the Russian government, or who are owned, controlled by, or acting for those people. If someone knowingly helps, sponsors, or provides non-financial support for those attacks, the President must apply five or more sanctions listed in section 9529. If someone knowingly provides financial services for those attacks, the President must apply three or more sanctions listed in section 8923(c). The punishments can include using powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to block and ban all transactions in any property in the United States, property that comes into the United States, or property controlled by a U.S. person. For foreign nationals, the President can deny visas, exclude them from the United States, and revoke their visas under section 1201(i) of title 8. The President can waive these rules only by sending Congress a written finding that the waiver is either in the vital national security interests of the United States or will help enforce this law, plus a certification that the Russian government has made significant efforts to reduce cyber intrusions. "Significant activities undermining cybersecurity" means major efforts to disable or damage computer systems, to steal or leak information to influence others or for theft of money, trade secrets, IDs, or financial data, and major destructive malware or denial-of-service attacks.