Officials say cyber executive order with ‘a dozen’ actions forthcoming
Top federal officials teased an upcoming executive order to improve federal cybersecurity in the wake of two major international hacking incidents. Meanwhile, Epic Games filed a complaint about Apple’s “monopolistic” aspects with a British watchdog group, and a top Facebook official announced his departure.
ORDER INCOMING: Officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday said that the Biden administration is working on “close to a dozen” action items to be included in an upcoming executive order meant to strengthen federal cybersecurity in the wake of two major breaches.
“We continue to work urgently to make the investments necessary, and the administration is working on close to a dozen actions for an upcoming executive order,” a senior DHS official told reporters during a phone call.
The comments were made as the Biden administration continues to grapple with the fallout from both the SolarWinds hack, which U.S. intelligence officials have assessed was “likely” carried out by Russian operatives, and from the newly discovered vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Exchange Server application that was initially exploited by a Chinese hacking group.
Anne Neuberger, President Biden’s deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, announced in February that at least nine federal agencies and 100 private sector companies had been compromised as part of the SolarWinds hack, first discovered in December.
Neuberger also announced last month that an “executive action” was in the works as part of responding to the SolarWinds hack. Her comments were made prior to the discovery of the Microsoft vulnerabilities, which have hit thousands of organizations worldwide.
