The White House has shared details on how it wants to spend billions of dollars on strengthening its cybersecurity initiatives in the wake of the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack.
The major US fuel pipeline was knocked offline, reportedly by the DarkSide ransomware group, leading to a brief fuel crisis in some parts of the country.
The event was the third major US cyberattack in recent months, following the SolarWinds supply chain and the Microsoft Exchange email server attacks, and led to US President Joe Biden signing an executive order that listed various measures to prevent possible future cyber catastrophes.
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In a statement, the Biden administration now looks to further capitalize on the move by highlighting the supposed cybersecurity elements in the previously proposed $2 trillion American Jobs Plan.
Cybersecurity spending
The plan includes $20 billion for state, and local governments to modernize their energy systems contingent upon meeting cybersecurity standards.
Another $2 billion is earmarked for building grid resilience in high-risk areas that will also be contingent on meeting cybersecurity targets.
The administration is also keen on presenting the plan’s call for $100 billion for high-speed broadband access as part of its cybersecurity spending based on the fact that grant recipients will be asked to source from “trusted vendors” and implement cybersecurity measures.
“Cybersecurity is one of the preeminent challenges of our time, which is why President Biden has made strengthening U.S. cybersecurity capabilities a top priority and has already taken action to advance it, including with last week’s Executive Order,” read the statement, adding that the American Jobs Plan will build on that work.
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Via Reuters
