Obama and Trump Agree on One Thing: Cybercrime Needs to Be Dealt With

Executive Order 13694 will be around for another year, as the current administration has elected to extend it. This document provides the government with the power necessary to retaliate against cyber attacks of various kinds through the use of sanctions. Let’s take a look at what this means.

First set forth by former U.S. President Barack Obama on April 1, 2015, the original order gave the government the authority to strike back against those who engaged in significant hacking attacks. This included attacks on pieces of critical infrastructure, economic hacking, or widespread denial of service attacks. In December of 2016, the order was expanded to include polling machines and other systems used in electoral processes after Russia interfered with the presidential election.

Executive Order 13694 was days from its expiration before the current administration sent a letter to Congress. This letter stated that the order would be renewed, continuing “the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13694 with respect to significant malicious cyber-enabled activities.”

Unfortunately, this order doesn’t mean that the average small to medium-sized business will have the full force of the government supporting them if they are victimized by a cybercriminal. Short of being targeted by an attack that poses “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” the SMB is on its own.

This is cause for some concern, as 43 percent of cyber attacks are directed towards small businesses. Circumstances like these make it all the more likely that your SMB could be a target. However, this doesn’t have to be the case.

vCTO Secure can step in and take action to protect you against the various security threats you may encounter. We have solutions that will make your network more resistant to threats, such as our Remote Monitoring and Management service, as well as enterprise-level firewalls. We’ll keep an eye on your network for incoming issues, resolving them much quicker than a reactionary approach would. Along with measures like this, we can also provide you with an education into current cyber security risks and the best practices that will help keep your employees prepared for potential intrusions.

Give us a call at (206) 895-5595 to take the first steps toward improved security of your own.