White House

This is the seventh in a series of Covington blogs on implementation of Executive Order 14028, “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity,” issued by President Biden on May 12, 2021 (the “Cyber EO”).  The first blog summarized the Cyber EO’s key provisions and timelines, and the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth blogs described the actions taken […]

A White House press briefing highlighted a joint advisory from CISA and the FBI about the fact that – as CISA Director Jen Easterly put it – “threat actors don’t take holidays.” The speakers noted that long weekends and holidays are more common times for attacks, taking advantage of the fewer eyes and first responders […]

On a visit with French president Emmanuel Macron, Vice President Harris announced that the United States will join the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace, a voluntary agreement to advance cybersecurity, “preserving the open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet.” The previous administration refused to participate in the initiative, which was spearheaded by Macron […]

President Biden has signed the Secure Equipment Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill that bans companies such as Huawei and ZTE – already designated as threats to national security – from getting approval from the FCC for network equipment licenses. Their gear was already banned from purchase by federal agencies, but newly introduced equipment could […]

President Biden issued an executive order in May requiring federal agencies to implement multi-factor authentication and full data encryption in their systems within 180 days, but many have not yet achieved this objective. Steven McAndrews, director of federal civilian cybersecurity for OMB, describes the glass as partially full, saying that agencies have come a long […]

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Congress is sending to President Biden to sign includes a substantial amount of money for cybersecurity. The final version includes $1 billion for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to modernize their systems, and $21 million to staff the new Office of the National Cyber Director. It also appropriates $100 […]

Federal agencies are facing challenges implementing some requirements in President Joe  Biden’s Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. For example, the EO calls for contracts to require greater data storage and logging as a way to improve the sharing of threat information. Federal Housing Finance Agency CISO Ralph Mosios says this effort requires money, people, and […]

This is the sixth in the series of Covington blogs on implementation of Executive Order 14028, “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity,” issued by President Biden...

In the wake of the past year’s attacks on government networks, federal CISO Chris DeRusha wants agencies to know that OMB understands that the current FISMA reporting process places significant demands on their resources. OMB is paring down the list of functions agencies are asked to review to the most essential, including practices such as […]

National Cyber Director Chris Inglis has appointed federal CISO Chris DeRusha as his deputy for federal cybersecurity. Inglis said this dual appointment for DeRusha – and the relationship it creates with him – does not indicate anything about their respective authorities; DeRusha’s CISO duties remain independent of Inglis’ office. Both say they simply need more […]