US President Joe Biden today extended a national emergency to address increasingly frequent and serious malicious cyber threats to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.
A national emergency was declared on April 1, 2015 by former President Barack Obama through Executive Order 13694, which also sanctioned those who coordinated or contributed to cyberattacks against the US.
On December 28, 2016, Obama issued Executive Order 13757 to amend EO 13694 because such malicious attacks were used to undermine democratic processes and institutions.
In the context of EO 13694, such cyber-related malicious activities include critical infrastructure breaches, denial of service attacks, and data theft incidents that pose a significant threat to US national security, foreign policy, economic health or financial stability.
Significant malicious cyber activity originating from or directed by individuals located wholly or in large part outside the United States continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States. President Biden said.
“Therefore, I have determined that there is a need to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13694 regarding significant malicious cyber activity.”
Biden’s notice extended the national emergency declared in EO 13694 and remained in effect after April 1, 2022, under section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 USC 1622(d)).
American organizations warned to defend their networks
Biden admin’s decision follows a “SHIELDS UP!” warning issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to all US organizations, asking them to take proactive measures to defend their networks.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could affect organizations inside and outside the region, including malicious cyber activities against the US homeland, including in response to the unprecedented economic costs imposed on Russia and our allies and partners,” said Russia. CISA.
“Evolving intelligence indicates that the Russian government is investigating the possibilities for potential cyber-attacks. Every organization, large and small, must be prepared to respond to disruptive cyber incidents.”
In February, CISA and the FBI also warned US organizations that data erasure attacks on Ukraine could spill over to targets in other countries.
The joint advisory came on the heels of malware attacks targeting Ukraine with the HermeticWiper malware and ransomware decoys aimed at destroying data and disabling targeted devices.
This post US National State of Emergency Extended Due to Increased Malicious Cyber Activity
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