Top US Congressman urges Biden to sanction China over country's cyber attack

A top US Congressman has urged President Joe Biden to sanction China over the country's recent cyber attack against Microsoft's email exchange. 

In a letter, Republican Mike Rogers called on Biden to impose significant sanctions using the authorities in Executive Order 13694, criminal charges, or other punitive measures against China and the state-affiliated actors responsible for the cyberattack on the Microsoft email exchange. Rogers, who is on the US House Armed Services Committee, said the 2015 order calls for economic sanctions against individuals and nations responsible for malicious cyber activities against the United



States.

Ranking member Rogers noted that a failure in this situation to punish China in a manner comparable to our response to Russian hostilities creates an unacceptable double standard in this era of great power competition.

On Monday, the US and its allies had accused China of a massive hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software and asserted that criminal hackers associated with the Chinese government have carried out ransomware and other illicit cyber operations. Rogers welcomed the public condemnation of China while noting that the announcement was not accompanied by sanctions.