Biden Signs Executive Order to Strengthen U.S. Cybersecurity Following Pipeline Attack

President Joe Biden’s executive order comes when the Colonial pipeline is still running dealing with the aftermath of a paralyzed ransomware attack

Photo: Tom Brenner / Getty Images

President Joe Biden signed on Wednesday an executive order aimed at strengthening defenses Cybersecurity Agency federal government that occurred since last year.

The executive order that Biden signed on Wednesday, ordering action to protect the cybersecurity of the country, occurs while the pipeline Colonial continues to grapple with the results of a ransomware attack against its operating system , which caused widespread fuel shortages throughout along the east coast and sparked a government-wide response.

The cyber attack against the Colonial pipeline is just the latest example of criminal or state actors and groups exploiting cyber vulnerabilities in the US

The executive order in which the Administration Biden has been working for months, aims to strengthen the cybersecurity for federal networks and outline new security standards for commercial software used by both companies and by the public.

“Recent cybersecurity incidents, such as SolarWinds , Microsoft Exchange, and the Colonial Pipeline incident are a sobering reminder that US public and private sector entities increasingly face a sophisticated malicious cyber activity by both state actors and cyber criminals, ”said the White House on a newsletter.

In a meeting with reporters on Wednesday, a senior official in the Biden administration said the order “reflects a fundamental shift in our mindset. from responding to incidents to prevention, from talking about security to making that security. ”

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What the new cybersecurity order requires

The order of Biden requires companies to report information about cyber attacks that put your security at risk.

It also updates security standards in government networks, including mandatory authentication and multi-factor encryption.

And creates a strategy manual for response to cyber incidents by federal agencies.

Also establishes a Cyber ​​Security Review Board to analyze incidents, which is inspired by the National Transportation Safety Board, which reviews accidents in airplanes and other modes of transportation.

The order comes as a result of the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline oil pipeline and after other recent cyberattacks. Colonial just restarted its pipeline operations on Wednesday.

Management Biden said that for too long the government and the country have not taken the necessary measures to strengthen their cybersecurity .

“These are systems that we use to run government and conduct commerce, systems that are used to deliver our energy and our water, to help manage traffic on our highways,” said an official to journalists. “The cost of continuing the status quo is simply unacceptable.”

With information from NPR and CNBC

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