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This week, President Biden signed the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act. It sounds like a great idea to “strengthen American cyber security”. But how exactly are we going to do that?
The quickest and easiest way to improve cyber security across the country is through information sharing for trend analysis, threat alerts, protection measures, etc.
The new law requires that critical infrastructure owners and operators must report a cyber breach within 72 hours to DHS, specifically to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Additionally, if the breach results in the payment of ransom in a ransomware attack, the reporting must be made within 24 hours.
One very important provision of the law is that it grants CISA subpoena power if an organization does not report a cyber incident or ransomware payment.
“What exactly is considered a critical infrastructure?”, you may ask. Just about anything you can think of. The 16 critical infrastructure sectors as defined by DHS are:
- Chemical
- Commercial Facilities
- Communications
- Critical Manufacturing
- Dams
- Defense Industrial Base
- Emergency Services
- Energy
- Financial Services
- Food and Agriculture
- Government Facilities
- Healthcare & Public Health
- Information Technology
- Nuclear Reactors, Materials & Waste
- Transportation Systems
- Waste & Wastewater Systems
See what I mean? Hard to really imagine anything that’s not critical infrastructure.
So, once again, how will this law which requires reporting cyber incidents improve cyber security? It allows for a whole-of-government approach to protecting, detecting, responding, and recovering from cyber attacks. The quicker a threat is detected, the quicker it can be stopped or mitigated. This is not intended to be a one-way street in which the information is shared with the government and appears to go into a black hole. It is part of the government’s process of evaluating threats and providing guidance to the owners and operators of the critical infrastructure in order to best protect us all.
Although the law has been signed, it will take up to two years for it to be implemented. However, given the recent cyber attacks and the elevated threat of cyber attacks as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it may be sooner.
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TIP OF THE WEEK
Password Managers: With so many passwords to keep track of (you better not be using the same password for more than one account), it can be difficult to keep track of them all. Especially when you are required to change them periodically.
Here are some features to look at when considering which password manager to use. - Ability to set the length and characters for the password generator function
- Auto-capture forms when you fill them in
- Organization of passwords
- Access to multi-factor authentication
- Strength scoring for your passwords
- Alerts when your password has been leaked on the dark web
- Auto-fill
- Good customer interface and easy to use
VOCABULARY WORD
Password Manager: An application used to encrypt and store passwords for accounts in one place so the user only has to remember the password to the manager.
CYBER HUMOR