Cybersecurity experts have been warning us for years that defending against digital threats is becoming harder, more intensive, and requires more complete attendance to resist. The very nature of financial, data and systemic sensitivity means we must not only respond to cybersecurity threats, but prevent them, and be flexible enough to continually assess what threats are out there.
For this reason, President Biden has signed an executive order designed to empower cybersecurity services while also providing new compliance measures necessary for countering threats. This has come as deemed cybersecurity threats have quadrupled since the beginning of the pandemic.
The intent of the executive order is to improve the nation’s security and protect federal government networks. As the public and private sector are so intimately woven and both care for critical infrastructure, nothing less than a total, overriding solution is called for here. But how does this relate to you and your business? We’ll discuss that below:
What Does the Executive Order Actually Set Out to Do?
Now we are aware that the cybersecurity executive order intends to create stronger security measures to prevent and counter-threats, but how exactly does this legislation aim to achieve that?
First – the federal government hopes to remove the barrier of reporting information between the government and private sector. When reports of cybersecurity threats and their scope can be shared seamlessly, reaction time is decreased. This involves removing unnecessary contractual barriers and providing a mandate for companies you might not have been so forthright about data breaches the incentive to report issues.
Furthermore, the software supply chain is being written from the ground up to prevent the shipping of faulty products with known security vulnerabilities. A cybersecurity review board will be put in place and assess problems similar to how airplane crashes are reviewed comprehensively. Using the federal budget, the government hopes to lead the way in software security implementation, while also creating a standard playbook organizations can use to follow that lead.
How is the Relationship Between the Private and Public Sectors Changing?
A fragmented system is an insecure system, and so this legislation aims to ensure that the private sector, which is responsible for much critical infrastructure in the United States, operates alongside the same line as the federal government, and is answerable to those compliance standards. This ensures that ultimately, both the private and public sector can benefit by operating out of a similar cybersecurity playbook, following the same necessary compliance measures.
What Should I, as the Leader of a Firm, Prioritize?
There are few measures you can take ahead of time. Adapting your company to cloud computing security using a full-service IT company will be key. Additionally, ensuring standards like multi-factor authentication are standardized throughout your firm can ensure all employee accounts are safe and regularly secured as necessary.
We’d also recommend keeping up with the distribution and implementation of compliance protocols and materials so that you can apply the necessary protocols as part of your daily workflow ahead of time, as the sooner your company is secure and operating under the necessary guidance, the better.