(Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama signed an executive orderWednesday allowing the use of economic sanctions for the first timeagainst perpetrators of destructive cyber-attacks and onlinecorporate espionage.

The move will let the Treasury Department freeze the assets ofoverseas individuals and entities identified as the source ofcybercrimes. The federal government also will be able to bar U.S.citizens and companies from doing business with those targeted forsanctions.

"Cyberthreats pose one of the most serious economic and nationalsecurity challenges to the United States, and my administration ispursuing a comprehensive strategy to confront them," Obama said ina statement. "As we have seen in recent months, these threats canemanate from a range of sources and target our criticalinfrastructure, our companies and our citizens.''

Under the order, sanctions will only be used if a cyber-attackharms U.S. national security, foreign policy or the broadereconomy. Only cybercriminals who target critical infrastructure,disrupt major computer networks, or are involved in the theft oftrade secrets or intellectual property will be considered for thenew penalties.

The administration is using the threat of new sanctions to helpprevent large-scale data theft after data breaches at major U.S.corporations, such as retailer Target Corp., health-insurer AnthemInc. and home-improvement chain Home Depot Inc. It's also arecognition that companies are facing increasingly destructiveattacks, such as the hack against Sony Pictures Entertainment thatcrippled thousands of computers and delayed release of a comedymovie.

North Korea

In January, Obama authorized economic sanctions against NorthKorea in connection with the Sony attack, permitting theadministration to target any government official, entity or personproviding support to the regime. At the time, the U.S. said itwould immediately target three North Korean entities and 10individuals. The North Korean government has denied any involvementin the attack.

''We take seriously North Korea's attack that aimed to createdestructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threatenartists and other individuals with the goal of restricting theirright to free expression," White House press secretary Josh Earnestsaid at the time.

Insurers, Banks

Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican and chairman of theSenate Foreign Relations Committee, praised the White House when itmoved to sanction North Korea.

In early March, Premera Blue Cross announced that hackers mayhave accessed 11 million records, including customer SocialSecurity numbers, bank account data and medical information.

Home Depot in September said 56 million payment cards and 53million e-mail addresses had been stolen by hackers. And just daysearlier, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a data breach affecting76 million households and 7 million small businesses.

The highest-profile breach, however, may have been the hackingof Sony Pictures. The U.S. government said North Korean hackersbroke into the studio's network and then exposed e-mails andprivate employment and salary records. U.S. authorities said it wasin retaliation for plans to release "The Interview," a satiricalfilm depicting the assassination of leader Kim Jong Un.