Adrian Johnson
TLDR:
- The Office of the National Cyber Director plans to update the national cybersecurity strategy implementation plan.
- The update includes regulatory reforms, software liability, and regulatory harmonization across critical infrastructure sectors.
In a recent article, the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) is set to release an update to the national cybersecurity strategy implementation plan. The original plan, published in 2023, contained over 65 initiatives focused on defending critical infrastructure, disrupting threat actors, shaping the market for resilience, and forming international partnerships. The updated implementation plan aims to introduce regulatory reform, software liability, and regulatory harmonization across critical infrastructure sectors.
The update will include measures such as software liability reform, wherein legislation will incentivize companies to create software with more secure code. This approach includes both “sticks” for legal actions against companies failing to comply and “carrots” for companies adopting best practices. Additionally, regulatory harmonization aims to streamline processes and eliminate duplicative efforts across critical infrastructure sectors.
However, critics express concerns about the potential impact on product development and market competition due to prioritizing security standards. They also raise issues regarding the complexity of handling vast amounts of mandatory incident reporting data, potentially causing information overload.
Despite progress on 69 initiatives in the current implementation plan, significant challenges remain, particularly in regulatory harmonization. The success of Implementation Plan 2.0 will serve as a crucial test for the Biden Administration, requiring collaboration between government and industry stakeholders for effective execution.
