White House National Cybersecurity Strategy – What it Means for Your Business

On Thursday, March 2nd, 2023, the Biden Administration released their official National Cybersecurity Strategy. There were many important topics addressed throughout the report that the Administration hopes will help to shape the future of cyber regulation.

The document contained a large scope of what needs to be done in order to increase the overall safety and defense of the cyber security landscape. The Strategy boasts five pillars of focus:

• Defend Critical Infrastructure
• Disrupt and Dismantle Threat Actors
• Shape Market Forces to Drive Security and Resilience
• Invest in a Resilient Future
• Forge International Partnerships to Pursue Shared Goals

In recent years there have been numerous attacks on sectors that are defined as ‘critical infrastructure’ throughout the country. These are companies that run basic human services such as: healthcare, energy, water, waste, and more. The Strategy aims to implement ‘minimum security standards’ in 16 critical sectors. As of right now, there are no minimum regulations pertaining to cyber security. However, these security standards cannot stand alone. Another leg of this expansive journey will be to push future legislation that holds software developers accountable for their products. The rapid development of new technologies over the last few decades has created what many call a ‘tech debt’ that now touches all modern industries. This debt means that the software industry is pushing enhancements and features so quickly to market that, many times, the products and services are not adequately secure. Consumers often accept new software updates and products that may have ‘bugs,’ but rarely are consumers thinking about the security implications that may have been overlooked with these fast rollouts. The goal for this new legislation by the Biden Administration is to establish liability for software producers that fail to take reasonable precautions to secure their products and services. 

What does this mean for the small, local businesses?

While critical infrastructure breaches and disruptions of services make headlines in the news, very rarely does a local business breach or malicious attack hit the news circuit. Coincidentally, the most highly targeted group for threat actors are individuals and small businesses. 

At the local level, small businesses and individuals are most impacted by ‘tech debt.’ Almosy every industry has technology and software needs regardless of the size of the organization. Mom & Pop shops need the same defensibility that the large critical infrastructure sectors will soon be receiving. Throughout the National Cybersecurity Strategy, there were few instances of the Federal Government addressing the needs of the SMB (small business community). 

A key quote within the Strategy stated that the Biden Administration is aiming to: “Shift the burden of cybersecurity from individuals and small businesses to organizations that are better equipped to mitigate cyber risks.” This is a call to action for technology firms to drive cyber security solutions in their local markets. Companies like Zirous have been implementing security solutions to client environments for decades. 

Through Cloud Managed Services offering, Zirous is positioned to be the security expert that the small local businesses need in order to protect themselves and their clients from threat actors. The Zirous Managed Services team aims to deploy cutting edge defense software that has been fully vetted to meet the “reasonable precautions” stated in the above strategy. 

It’s hard for small businesses to implement cyber security measures and keep up with the ever-changing technology industry. Zirous Managed Services makes it possible for local businesses to serve their communities without having to worry about their technology and security needs or threat actors.