U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin has warned that the American government is ready to level criminal charges against Chinese hackers and impose sanctions on the country if the cyber deal reached during President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S. in September is violated.

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The cyber space agreement between U.S. President Barack Obama and the Chinese leader explicitly forbids both nations from sponsoring cyber theft of business or trade secrets from companies in either's territory. The agreement is notably silent on hacking for national security purposes.

This cyber space agreement was reached after several U.S. companies and state agencies reported that they had been targeted by hackers from China. The Obama administration had been under immense pressure to respond to repeated hacking attacks. The Chinese government has always denied complicity in the alleged cyber espionage attempts and instead says it is also a victim of hacking.

While many had praised the cyber agreement between Obama and Xi as a milestone, critics voiced skepticism about it.

In October, security firm CrowdStrike announced that up to seven cyber-attacks targeting U.S. companies had been detected coming from China. The founder of Crowdstrike Dmitiri Alperovitch said the furtive attacks on pharmaceutical and technological companies had been designed to steal "intellectual property and trade secrets" rather than for national security purposes.

If this is true, it is a clear violation of the cyber space agreement between both nations.

PBS quotes Carlin explaining that "It was great we agreed to this norm, but that's all the more reason when we agreed to this norm, why, when people violate that and you catch them, there's a price to pay, be it criminal or through sanctions."

This is not the first time that Carlin has threatened that the U.S. would resort to these punitive measures if China violates the cyber space deal. During a U.S. Chamber of Commerce summit in September, he cited the indictment of five members of the People's Liberation Army Unit 61398 in May 2014 by a court in Pennsylvania for cyber espionage and the decision to impose sanctions against North Korea following the hacking of Sony Corporation in 2014 as examples of the commitment of U.S. authorities to punish hackers.

"Our commitment to deterrence has made a difference, but what lies ahead remains to be seen. Cyber security threats are not going away. We remain committed to deterrence through the use of all tools," he said.

TagsChinese Hackers U.S. Charges, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S.-China Cyber Space Agreement, CrowdStrike China Cyber Attacks U.S., China Cyber-attacks U.S., U.S.-China Cyber Space Rules of Conduct