Category Archives: Executive actions

On July 28, 2021, President Biden issued a Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems.  The Memo recognizes that the protection of the nation’s critical infrastructure lies not only with government, i.e., at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels, but with critical infrastructure owners and operators.  In addition, the Memo states that cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure, and the systems that control and operate it,… More

On May 12, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order which is aimed at improving the nation’s cybersecurity and protecting federal government networks.  The Executive Order has been in the works for some time, but the timing of its release is a response to the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack.

According to the Fact Sheet issued by the White House, this Executive Order will:

• Remove barriers to threat information sharing between government and the private sector
• Modernize and implement stronger cybersecurity standards in the Federal Government
• Improve software supply chain security
• Establish a Cybersecurity Safety Review Board
• Create a standard playbook for responding to cyber incidents
• Improve detection of cybersecurity incidents on Federal Government networks
• Improve investigative and remediation capabilities

The overall impact of the Executive Order is limited,… More

“Will the President sign it?” I asked in a recent post. As if in direct answer, the President issued the order the same day, May 11, 2017. The order is titled Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure, and it appears to be identical to the recently leaked draft.

The order commissions a slew of reports from federal agencies.… More

The saga of the cyber security executive order continues; a new draft surfaced just last week. The first draft leaked in January, shortly before the President was expected to sign a cyber-security order. He abruptly postponed. Another draft leaked in February, but the President didn’t sign that one either. Perhaps this latest draft is the final one. “Rumors had it,” Paul Rosenzweig writes,… More