The devastating series of attacks on federal agencies and partners – SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange Server and now the Colonial Pipeline – has prompted government to take action. On May 12, 2021, the Biden administration announced an Executive Order on improving the nation’s cybersecurity and strengthening federal network defenses.
In this opinion piece, Quantum Xchange’s CTO Shahryar Shaghaghi argues before agencies rush to check the EO boxes, they should first perform a cybersecurity risk assessment to identify gaps, define a risk profile and align mitigation priorities and strategies with their overall risk appetite. A sound enterprise risk management profile should consider modern-day vulnerabilities and present risk scenarios but also those in the foreseeable future including quantum attack.
Federal agencies and their partners looking to update their encryption infrastructure to comply with the EO and better protect long-duration data should conduct a quantum risk assessment and deploy quantum-safe solutions for protecting their data today and in the quantum-enabled future. Failing to do so, could cause premature obsolescence of any upgraded system or architecture — a costly and risk-intense scenario best avoided.
Access the full article on Government Computer News here.