The White House Wants To Make Big Tech Bear A Greater Share Of The Blame For Cyberattacks

The US government has finally released its long-awaited cybersecurity strategy, and it appears that it will shift more security responsibility to businesses, shifting the burden away from consumers.

The document “fundamentally reimagines America’s cyber social contract,” said Kemba Walden, acting national cyber director, during a media preview. “It will shift the burden of managing cyber risk to those who are best suited to bear it.”

“Our digital ecosystem’s largest, most capable, and best-positioned actors can and should bear a greater share of the burden for managing cyber risk and keeping us all safe.”

Inadequate results

Up until now, the government says, the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure was the result of voluntary action, which is why it “resulted in inadequate and inconsistent outcomes”.

However, it is now establishing “minimum standards” to which business owners and software operators must adhere. These performance-based standards will build on existing regulations.

However, what this means in practice for technology companies is unknown, given that the agencies in charge of various critical infrastructure industries, states, and independent regulators will all have a say in how the strategy is implemented.

Since it became clear that hacks, fraud, and other criminal activity in cyberspace are only getting worse, the United States government has been working on a cybersecurity strategy for years.

Disruptive attacks on key infrastructure players, such as the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline endpoints, only accelerated the delivery of the virus. The Biden administration spent the last year developing an outline for the document, whose primary author is former National Cyber Director Chris Inglis.

Via: Cyberscoop