Security News > 2021 > May > Biden issues executive order to increase U.S. cybersecurity defenses
President Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to modernize the country's defenses against cyberattacks and give more timely access to information necessary for law enforcement to conduct investigations.
This executive order follows the numerous cyberattacks targeting US interests this year, including the SolarWinds supply chain attacks in December and the more recent DarkSide ransomware attack against the largest US fuel pipeline, Colonial Pipeline.
The 34-page 'Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity' is designed to modernize the cybersecurity defenses of the federal government's infrastructure, created a standardized incident response playbook, and increase communication between service providers and law enforcement.
Require IT and OT service providers, including cloud hosting providers, to share information about cybersecurity threats and breaches that they become aware of and to remove contractual issues that prevent the sharing of such information.
Improve the detection and remediation of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and breaches on government networks by deploying a centralized Endpoint Detection and Response solution and intra-governmental information sharing.
The White House has also released a summarized version of the executive order that provides a good overview of the upcoming changes being made to increase the country's cybersecurity posture.