The White House sent an open letter last week to “corporate executives and business leaders” urging their companies to take “immediate steps” toward better protecting themselves against ransomware attacks.[1] Although the White House cannot generally dictate the actions that private companies take, the Biden administration has emphasized that “business leaders have a responsibility to strengthen their cyber defenses to protect the American public and . . . economy.”[2] To that end, the letter referenced the five “best practices” set forth in the recently issued Executive Order on Cybersecurity, including (1) multifactor authentication; (2) endpoint detection; (3) endpoint response; (4) encryption; and (5) a skilled and empowered security team. The letter also outlined five basic but impactful security practices that the White House recommended companies implement...

To read the full alert, please click here.