Biden signs new cyber order days before Trump inauguration | Computer Weekly
Summary
“Significant malicious cyber-enabled activities … pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” said Biden, presenting the EO to Congress. He wrote: “These campaigns disrupt the delivery of critical services across the nation, cost billions of dollars, and undermine Americans’ security and privacy. The order also requires federal government bodies to adopt industry best practice, especially in identity and access management (IAM) to improve threat visibility and strengthen cloud security, and to implement strong authentication and encryption across its infrastructure. Illumio public sector chief technology officer Gary Barlet, who previously held US government CIO posts at multiple organisations, said: “Biden’s executive order introduces several promising proposals that could significantly enhance the nation’s cyber security posture, including stricter software requirements, guidance on leveraging artificial intelligence for cyber defenses, and the adoption of endpoint detection and response tools. Echoing his actions in the wake of his 2016 victory, Trump is expected to sign a pile of new EOs after taking office on 20 January, many of them likely to focus on issues such as immigration that activated his voter base in November.