SolarWinds fallout raises pressure on Biden

The Biden administration is coming under increasing pressure to address U.S. cybersecurity vulnerabilities following the Microsoft breach that has quickly been viewed as a massive threat to the U.S.

Officials are still trying to wrap their heads around the extent of the cyberattack more than two weeks after the U.S. tech giant announced it was hit.

Complicating matters is the fact that the administration is also still trying to gauge the widening fallout of what has become known as the SolarWinds hack. The two incidents, likely linked to nation-state activity, are painting a grim picture of the cybersecurity threats facing U.S. businesses and the federal government.

“I am incredibly concerned that our infrastructure is at huge risk, and that is not just the technology, but the people who protect and defend the infrastructure,” said Theresa Payton, White House chief information officer during the George W. Bush administration who’s now CEO of the cybersecurity consultancy group Fortalice.

Read more about the two breaches here.

The Biden administration formally set up a “unified coordination group” consisting of multiple federal agencies to respond to the breach on Wednesday, with private sector companies set to be a major part of response efforts.