US imposes cyber-related sanctions on Russian, UAE individuals and entities

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – The U.S. on Tuesday issued cyber-related sanctions against four people and three entities, including some based in Russia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Treasury Department website.

The entities and people were targeted “for their acquisition and distribution of cyber tools harmful to U.S. national security,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.

In a corresponding move, the U.S. Department of State said one of the individuals and two of the entities hit with sanctions were also designated under the “Protecting American Intellectual Property Act (PAIPA) in connection with theft of trade secrets from U.S. persons.”

The sanctions are related to a U.S. investigation into a former executive of a government contractor, for selling trade secrets to a buyer in Russia – one of the entities hit with sanctions – for $1.3 million.

The former executive, Peter Williams of L3Harris, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of theft of trade secrets.

The U.S. Justice Department said he took “at least eight sensitive and protected cyber-exploit components” from his job and sold them to “a Russian cyber-tools broker.”

An exploit is a piece of code that can be used to take advantage of a software vulnerability typically for the purpose of theft, espionage or sabotage.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Christian Martinez and Mark Porter)