Curious about OFAC sanctions and their implications? In this enlightening video, Francis Turner from ThreatSTOP unravels the complexities of OFAC sanctions and their significance. Learn about the sources and impacts of these sanctions, and discover how ThreatSTOP can be your ally in navigating this intricate landscape. Join us to gain a clearer perspective on the world of sanctions compliance.
Key Takeaway:
Gain a clear understanding of OFAC sanctions and their intricate implications. Francis Turner's insights shed light on the world of sanctions compliance, from OFAC's origins to its evolving scope, particularly in the context of Russia.
ThreatSTOP DNS and IP Defense is your one-stop shop for sanctions compliance. Proactively block communications with sanctioned countries and entities using your existing firewalls and DNS infrastructure.
For tailored solutions and guidance in navigating sanctions compliance, reach out to us.
Learn More:
What DNS Security Does A Typical Enterprise Need?
Video Transcript
0:00 Intro
0:26 What Are OFAC Sanctions?
Hi there, I’m Francis Turner from ThreatSTOP. I am a security researcher at ThreatSTOP, where I have been working on a number of different things to do with sanctions compliance and how ThreatSTOP can help people comply with the various sanctions regimes that have been implemented throughout the world by various different governments.
0:26 What Are OFAC Sanctions?
One of the questions we get asked a lot is what are OFAC sanctions, and where can I find out about them? Well, the answer to that question is pretty straightforward. The government, the U.S. Department of Treasury, has a website which has them all on it, and it's ofac.treasury.gov, and you can go there, and you can go find them.
However, that's the easy bit. The tricky bit is getting that data and then figuring out what that means to you as an organization or even as an individual who is trying not to do business with companies or organizations or individuals that are sanctioned under those OFAC sanctions, and that's where ThreatSTOP comes in.
So, what are OFAC sanctions? OFAC sanctions are sanctions that the U.S. Department of Treasury offers a financial asset control has put in place, usually by executive orders from the president, and there are some other parts like the U.S. government get involved as well, but fundamentally, they are U.S. government, the head of the executive branch of the U.S. government under the president have said these particular people, you should not do business with except under special permission from us because they are for various reasons doing things that the U.S. government disapproves of.
Typically, in the past, that has been countries like Iran or Cuba or North Korea who have just, you know, financial prior to the entire world, but more recently, particularly since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, it's involved companies and organizations that are Russian related, and those are significantly more of a concern to lots of companies around the world because people do a lot more business or have done a lot more business with Russia and Russian-related companies than they have with North Korea or Iran or Cuba and whatever.
In particular, one of the catches with Russia is that Russia has been embedded in the financial systems and, you know, the world global trading system for, you know, the last 20 or 30 years since the Soviet Union collapsed, and you know, and Russia rebuilt itself, and so therefore, Russia people have been doing business with Russia and Russian entities for years; whereas, for the most part, they have not been doing business with Libya or Iran or Cuba or whatever.
So, therefore, once OFAC and indeed the other companies like, you know, other countries, the EU, the U.K., and so on, you know, put these sanctions on Russian individuals and Russian companies, people really wanted to comply, and they had; then this was a problem, whereas with the previous sort of countries like I said Iran and so on, it wasn't.