The Biden administration issued a lengthy Executive Order, “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity,” on May 12, which it described as the “first of many ambitious steps” toward modernizing U.S. cybersecurity defenses. The White House simultaneously issued an explanatory fact sheet and background press call.

Pursuant to the Order, government agencies will be required to deploy multifactor authentication, encryption, endpoint detection response, and logging and operate under the principle of a “zero-trust” environment. A clear purpose of the Order is to improve the security of commercial software, including by establishing baseline security requirements based on industry best practices. As the White House press briefer stated, the Order will impose “the power of federal procurement to say, ‘If you’re doing business with us, we need you to practice really good — really good cybersecurity. And, most importantly, we really need you to focus on secure software development.’”

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