Rimsky-Korsakov Prospect, Building 109-111, Litera/Block A, Apartment 20, Saint Petersburg, 190068, Russia
Reg. ID
780223642330, Tax ID No.
Function
Other
Official reason
Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk (Zelenyuk) and his company, Matrix LLC (doing business as Operation Zero), as well as five associated individuals and entities, for their acquisition and distribution of cyber tools harmful to U.S. national security. Zelenyuk and Operation Zero trade in “exploits”—pieces of code or techniques that take advantage of vulnerabilities in a computer program to allow users to gain unauthorized access, steal information, or take control of an electronic device—and have offered rewards to anyone who will provide them with exploits for U.S.-built software. OFAC is designating Zelenyuk, Operation Zero, and the five associated individuals and entities pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694, as further amended by E.O. 14306 (“E.O. 13694, as further amended”). In parallel with this action, the Department of State is sanctioning Zelenyuk, Operation Zero, and an affiliated UAE company, Special Technology Services LLC FZ (STS) pursuant to the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act (PAIPA). Russian national Zelenyuk,through his St. Petersburg, Russia-headquartered company Operation Zero, has been active as an exploit broker since 2021. In advertisements and other public-facing materials, Zelenyuk and Operation Zero have stated that they will only sell the exploits they acquire to customers from non-NATO countries. Zelenyuk, through Operation Zero, has sought to sell exploits to foreign intelligence agencies. Zelenyuk and Operation Zero have also sought to develop other cyber intelligence systems, including spyware and methods to extract personal identifying information and other sensitive data uploaded by users of artificial intelligence applications like large language models. OFAC is designating Zelenyuk and Operation Zero pursuant to E.O. 13694, as further amended, for being responsible for or complicit in, or having engaged in, directly or indirectly, cyber-enabled activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or substantial part, outside the United States that are reasonably likely to result in, or have materially contributed to, a threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States, and that have the purpose of or involve causing a misappropriation of funds or economic resources, intellectual property, proprietary or business confidential information, personal identifiers, or financial information for commercial or competitive advantage or private financial gain.
Executive Order 14306 of June 6, 2025 Sustaining Select Efforts To Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144
Regime
OFAC-horizontal
Target State
Cyber-attacks
Measures
Blocking Property, Suspending Entry
Official Information
STRENGTHENING THE NATION’S CYBERSECURITY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity by focusing on critical protections against foreign cyber threats and enhancing secure technology practices.
The Order amends problematic elements of Obama and Biden-era Executive Orders (14144 and 13694).
The Order directs the Federal government to advance secure software development.
It directs department and agency level action on border gateway security to defeat hijacking of network interconnections.
The Order directs department and agency level actions on post-quantum cryptography to ensure protection against threats that may leverage next generation compute architectures.
The Order directs adoption of the latest encryption protocols.
It refocuses artificial intelligence (AI) cybersecurity efforts towards identifying and managing vulnerabilities, rather than censorship.
The Order directs technical measures to promulgate cybersecurity policy, including machine readable policy standards and formal trust designations for “Internet of Things” as a way to ensure that Americans can know that their personal and home devices meet basic security engineering principles.
It limits the application of cyber sanctions only to foreign malicious actors, preventing misuse against domestic political opponents and clarifying that sanctions do not apply to election-related activities.
The Order strips away inappropriate measures outside of core cybersecurity focus, including removing a mandate for U.S. government issued digital IDs for illegal aliens that would have facilitated entitlement fraud and other abuse.
REPRIORITIZING CYBERSECURITY EFFORTS: President Trump is taking decisive action to address real technical challenges and enduring cyber security threats.
Just days before President Trump took office, the Biden Administration attempted to sneak problematic and distracting issues into cybersecurity policy. This included:
Introducing digital identity mandates that risked widespread abuse by enabling illegal immigrants to improperly access public benefits.
Imposing unproven and burdensome software accounting processes that prioritized compliance checklists over genuine security investments.
Micromanaging technical cybersecurity decisions better handled at the department and agency level, where budget tradeoffs and innovative solutions can be more effectively evaluated and implemented.
Cybersecurity is too important to be reduced to a mere political football.
Adversaries routinely threaten our critical infrastructure, personal devices, and the fabrics of our digital lives.
ADVANCING NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY: President Trump is advancing cybersecurity for the safety of all Americans.
President Trump has made it clear that this Administration will do what it takes to make America cyber secure—including focusing relentlessly on technical and organizational professionalism to improve the security and resilience of the nation’s information systems and networks.
Since the first day he entered office, President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to eliminate fraud and abuse across the Federal Government.
President Trump has already taken action to remove barriers to AI innovation, ensuring that our technology sector remains competitive at the cutting edge of new developments and free from ideological bias.
