Government Accountability Office Pushes for Rapid Cybersecurity Changes
The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, has recently been more pressing in its attempts to urge the U.S. government to take quicker action when it comes to issues of cybersecurity, especially in light of recent events involving the widespread SolarWinds hack.
Frequency of Cyber Attacks
Despite the frequency of breaches in organizations of all sizes, many businesses are still lacking substantially when it comes to cybersecurity and disaster preparedness. The frequency of cyber attacks combined with the lax security of many companies inspired a recent cybersecurity audit report, issued by a federal watchdog, urging President Biden to take action in appointing a national cyber director.
A new director is needed in order to coordinate the responses and actions necessary during major security issues. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are applying the pressure to the administration to nominate a candidate.
Calling on Congress for a National Privacy Law
The White House is said to be conducting a 60-day review in order to take the time to look at the position of cyber director. The Government Accountability Office has also been urging the government to better supply chain security in order to help develop better and more detailed incident response plans.
They’re also calling on Congress to help pass a national privacy law that would help to outline everything necessary to keep the public safe. However, the first and most important step is appointing the cyber director within the White House.
The more frequently digital attacks happen, the more it becomes apparent that so much more needs to be done. With a cyber director in place at The White House, proper coordination can be put in place to help utilize the teams already available and that are doing a good job at ensuring the safety against cyber threats happening throughout the country.
Many businesses choose to work with an IT company in Cincinnati in order to provide the security measures needed to protect themselves from a threat. However, there needs to be more influence from the powers that be and that will hopefully come in the form of a cyber director being appointed.
Learning from Previous Mistakes
It’s clear that there’s a lot that needs to be learned from the previous breaches and attacks that have taken place in the last year, with one being the recent SolarWinds attack. In the case of the SolarWinds attack, the attackers were able to gain access to one email account. Using that one account, the attackers targeted DHS staffers that had been working to help detect threats from overseas.
The GAO reported that the SolarWinds supply chain attack shows the weaknesses that still remain when it comes to cybersecurity across both big and small businesses. These weaknesses are also apparent in government agencies’ ability to help protect and defend against these security attacks.
