Recently, there has been a visible increase in the frequency and scope of ransomware incidents against the US Government, US companies, critical infrastructure, and the food supply. Gula Tech Adventures lauds the Biden Administration’s focus on these concerning national security threats, as evidenced by the recent Executive Order on improving cybersecurity, DNSA for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger’s memo to the private sector on protection against the threat of ransomware, and comments from senior officials across the government.
The Administration has been advocating for greater cyber hygiene and improved and consistent hunting of threats. FBI Director Christopher Wray, for instance, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, argued that of the “…focus has been on disruption and prevention.” Most importantly, Director Wray noted that “there’s a shared responsibility, not just across government agencies, but across the private sector and even the average American.” Other senior officials have echoed similar sentiments.
President Biden’s Executive Order focused on some improvements for the federal government’s cyber infrastructure, arguing for some high impact activities: multifactor authentication, endpoint detection and response, encryption, and a skilled and empowered security team. Gula Tech Adventures agrees these are important steps to protect the federal government, but this is insufficient.
