Final Biden Cyber EO Lays Out Path Ahead for Harnessing AI and Industry to Protect Federal Networks
by David Gorodetski Co-Founder and CEO
In his last big cyber act before departing the White House, President Joe Biden released an executive order that details how the federal government and its private sector partners can confront a rapidly expanding cybersecurity landscape driven by increasingly advanced cyber threats.
This new EO bookends the sweeping executive order he issued to start his presidency in 2021, providing everything from lessons learned to definitive actions. The 2021 EO mapped out a foundational path to cyber modernization by introducing proven private sector concepts like zero trust architecture and standardizing cyber guidelines across government.
This new EO charts a course for the use of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence that will give the government the upper hand in a world where the democratization of AI has lowered the barrier for cybercriminals, leading to a surge in both the frequency and complexity of cyberattacks.
To do this, the White House is looking to the private sector for both experience and inspiration.
One part of the EO proposes a pilot program collaboration between the Energy Department and industry to understand how AI can be used to defend critical infrastructure. Another part of the order seeks to understand private sector developments in emerging technologies and how the federal government can harness those innovations.
Key Takeaways
So, what are the big takeaways from all of this? First, AI will play a huge role in defending federal networks and critical infrastructure. This is not a new concept, but while before it was nice to incorporate AI into cyber processes, now it’s a necessity. Heuristics analysis — where code is checked against known malware — might have worked in the past, but now attackers can easily modify their code to get around those defenses.
AI is the only tool that can take on both the complexity of modern threats and the sheer volume of potential attacks. Beyond that, through innovations like automation, behavioral analysis and threat simulations, AI will be the lynchpin for the future of federal cybersecurity — something agency leaders will have to tie every decision to.
Second, the government cannot do this alone and will need to lean on private sector partners and their vast cyber experience. For federal agencies, their primary focus is the mission. These cyber companies have been able to focus on this singular challenge for decades.
Industry will also have to prove that it’s a trusted partner. One way that’s already happening is through the federal Secure by Design pledge — a federal initiative to ensure the security of the fed tech supply chain. This pledge has already garnered a lot of industry support and is just another way that government and the private sector are working in concert to make America safer for its citizens.
Moving Forward
This will be a pivotal year for federal cybersecurity. Now that so many agencies are past the planning and implementation phase of the EO President Biden issued four years ago at the start of his term, it’s time to operationalize and introduce advanced technologies to combat the most complex threats we’ve ever seen. This new EO lays out the roadmap. Now it’s up to federal agencies and the contractors that support them to continue the journey ahead.