On Saturday, an unnamed “senior administration official” told Reuters that the US government is considering using visa restrictions to keep Chinese hackers from attending DefCon and Black Hat, two major hacking conferences that take place in August in Las Vegas.

The move would be “part of a broad effort to curb Chinese cyber espionage,” Reuters reported. The news comes after five members of the Chinese military were indicted by the US on Monday for allegedly hacking into US companies and stealing trade secrets. It was the first time ever that the US has formally accused another government of hacking.

Jeff Moss, founder of both the DefCon and Black Hat conferences, and Chris Wysopal, a member of the Black Hat board that reviews presentations, were both skeptical of the move. Wysopal noted that Black Hat talks are taped and sold after the conference, and preventing Chinese hackers from being physically there would not appreciably affect China's hacking abilities. "It seems symbolic to me," Wysopal told Reuters of the move. Several Chinese nationals are booked to speak at the Black Hat conference, although none are booked to speak at DefCon.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that the US is looking for other ways to turn up the heat on China's alleged corporate espionage, including “working with a US company that has been breached to feed hackers bad data,” one anonymous official said.

Reuters also notes that “Ten to 12 Chinese citizens were unexpectedly denied visas last week to attend a space and cyber conference hosted by the Space Foundation in Colorado this week,” suggesting that the US has already started taking action against China's military hackers.

Last year, DefCon asked US federal agents to stay away from the conference. The organization's request came in protest against the revelations of broad spying on Americans and foreigners by the NSA. On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder drew a distinction between the NSA's spying and the actions that the US government has charged five Chinese military members with, saying that China's alleged activities were "to gain commercial advantage."