High-profile ransomware attacks against large businesses and governments have become increasingly popular. They typically occupy news headlines on a monthly basis. As of writing, the most recent, high-profile attack was launched against Porsche, South Africa, where IT systems and some backups were impacted by ransomware from an unknown attacker. The gangs that perpetrate these attacks typically have carefully-crafted, large public personas and engage in significant posturing.
Today’s release of the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy is the result of more than a year of government and industry collaboration that sets new boundaries for the government approach needed to improve global cyber defenses. The strategy clearly represents a shift away from decades-old voluntary compliance regimes to a more aggressive regulatory construct that seeks to shift cyber burdens onto providers/developers and owners and operators of critical infrastructure.