Proposed bill will deny foreign hackers entry into the U.S.

A day before U.S. President’s scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a new act that aims to punish criminals engaging in cyber spying and theft on behalf of foreign governments has been presented to U.S. legislators.

The Cyber Economic Espionage Accountability Act, sponsored by Representatives Mike Rogers Tim Ryan and Senator Ron Johnson, “will give the President and Congress the power and oversight to deal with foreign cyber espionage in a meaningful way,” claims Congressman Ryan.

“It’s time there are repercussions for these brazen acts taken by foreign actors. This bill is a simple, common-sense measure. It directs the Administration to develop a list of cyber spies, make that list public, and enforce penalties for those bad actors,” commented Senator Johnson.

The bill is meant to encourage the DOJ to prosecute economic espionage criminal cases against offending foreign actors, to deny known or suspected foreign hackers visas and entry to the U.S., as well as freezing the financial assets and revoking visas for such hackers that currently reside in the U.S.

“Stealing intellectual property not only threatens the manufacturing jobs we have—it threatens the jobs we are trying to create. We need to ensure that countries like China and Russia no longer gain a competitive advantage through cyber crimes,” says Ryan.