The Five-Pillar Approach to Cyber Defense: Understanding Biden's Cybersecurity Strategy

The Biden Administration recently unveiled its comprehensive cybersecurity strategy on March 2, 2023, which is nearly 40 pages long. The strategy highlights the importance of safeguarding American infrastructure and developing a digital ecosystem capable of defending against cyber threats while remaining resilient and values aligned. Through this strategic approach, the administration aims to improve cyber defense efforts through targeted and intentional investments.

Since George W. Bush's presidency, every administration has released a formal cybersecurity strategy at least once per term. The Trump Administration's most recent plan, released in 2018, focused on pre-emptive initiatives against domestic and international threat actors and concerns over foreign entities, mainly Chinese manufacturer Huawei.

The Biden Administration's cybersecurity strategy seeks to build and enhance collaboration in cyberspace through a five-pillar approach. These pillars include:

1. Defending critical infrastructure

2. Disrupting and dismantling threat actors

3. Shaping market forces to drive security and resilience

4. Investing in a resilient future

5. Forging international partnerships to pursue shared goals

While the Biden Administration continues to prioritize cyber defense investments and actions against hacker groups, the third pillar of shaping market forces to drive security and resilience brings potential fundamental changes to the underlying dynamics of the digital ecosystem. This may lead to increased regulatory and federal oversight on owners and operators of critical infrastructure, particularly technology, and software manufacturers.

The goal is to set a security benchmark similar to that of the mobility engineering industry, which will strengthen the infrastructure and user base by implementing minimum cybersecurity measures. Achieving this requires demanding more from the owners and operators of critical infrastructure to ensure that cybersecurity is given the attention it deserves. By doing so, we can create a safer digital landscape for everyone.

The strategy also reaffirms the Biden Administration's focus on ransomware attacks, now officially classified as a national security threat. The administration has committed all elements of national power to counter ransomware with initiatives that include:

· Leveraging international cooperation to disrupt the ransomware ecosystem

· Investigating ransomware crimes

· Bolstering critical infrastructure resilience

· Addressing the abuse of virtual currency to launder ransom payments

The Biden Administration's cybersecurity strategy emphasizes the need to protect American infrastructure and create a digital ecosystem that is defensible, resilient, and values-aligned. This will require collaboration and partnership across all sectors and a commitment to establish minimum cybersecurity measures to ensure a more robust infrastructure and user base.

You can read the entire strategy here, which will be spearheaded by the National Security Council, the White House's Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of the National Cyber Director.