The White House initiatives and expected passage of the US infrastructure plan will set new cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure, provide money to state and local governments.

Both the Biden administration and the Congress continued their frenetic pace this week to beef up the country’s digital infrastructure protections through two highly consequential and unprecedented initiatives. Both efforts aim to prepare the nation for the next significant cybersecurity incidents, making up for lost time due to the previous administration’s relative inattention to the topic.

First, the White House issued a National Security Memorandum (NSM) on “Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems.” The memo requires the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), working with other agencies, to develop cybersecurity performance goals for critical infrastructure. The hope is that companies responsible for providing essential services like power, water, and transportation would follow those voluntary goals to strengthen their cybersecurity.

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