A wake up call on Capitol Hill © Julia Nikhinson The past 12 months stand as a banner year in the severity of cyberattacks that wreaked havoc on organizations large and small. Impact: In the wake of the chaos, a silver lining has emerged around a never-before-seen level of bipartisan support and genuine interest on Capitol Hill for strengthening the nation's cybersecurity. “Everybody’s consciousness had been raised with respect to threats in cybersecurity, everything from the ransomware attacks, to other different types of cyber intrusions which have taken place,” Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), chair of the House Armed Services’s cybersecurity subcommittee, told The Hill earlier this month. “We have more awareness now, more members are paying attention to it than ever before. Rough year: The changes come after one of the most bruising years in the history of cyberspace, with a barrage of high-profile and highly damaging attacks occurring in quick succession. These included ransomware attacks on Colonial Pipeline, meat producer JBS USA, IT company Kaseya and scores of schools and hospitals throughout the year that were already under pressure from changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Incidents also included nation state-backed efforts, such as the SolarWinds hack, which allowed Russian hackers to compromise at least nine federal agencies, and Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities, which were exploited by Chinese hackers and potentially impacted thousands of groups. “It seems like a week doesn’t go by that there is not some major new cyber issue that has emerged, so yes, more attention is being paid to it, and more willingness to do something about it,” Langevin said. Read more here. |
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