What’s Next in Cybersecurity

Amid numerous challenges in its first year, the Biden administration has bat-signaled its intent to shore up cybersecurity vulnerabilities in federal networks and address inadequacies in the government’s cybersecurity workforce. Biden’s May executive order, issued in response to a series of major cybersecurity breaches with digital and real-world impacts to Americans, elevated cybersecurity to a priority area and set deliverables and milestones for agencies.

For example, the Office of Management and Budget and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released draft guidance in September on zero-trust cybersecurity architectures—a step the administration hopes will lead to wide-scale adoption of the framework. Meanwhile, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is working with industry to create a new cybersecurity framework that is expected to inform how companies build more secure software for the government. Both efforts were laid out in the May executive order and are themselves steps toward a federal government with a stronger, more resilient cybersecurity posture.

Agencies recent actions also indicate a focus on the cyber workforce. The Department of Homeland Security is establishing a new recruitment and retention system that it expects will improve how federal agencies hire and retain cyber personnel. And in an effort to better immerse their lawyers in emerging cyber issues, the Justice Department recently launched a cybersecurity fellowship program.

In this ebook, Nextgov examines these and other cybersecurity issues that could impact the government for years to come.   

Download the free ebook here.