How Will Cybersecurity Change When Joe Biden Takes Office?

There is a lot of speculation surrounding how things will change once Joe Biden takes office as president of the United States. Traditionally, Donald Trump has been criticized for his soft approach to cybersecurity. Experts predict that Joe Biden will take the opposite track and follow his former boss Barack Obama. 

The High Points

Throughout Biden’s campaign, he focused on COVID-19, the black lives matter movement (BLM), and the state of the economy. He did not mention cybersecurity; therefore, experts are left to speculate which direction he will go in. Unfortunately, even though his administration did not address these issues, with the increase in cyber events routinely hitting hospitals, wholesale and retail organizations, and even academic targets, it will have to be addressed soon.

In the Democratic Party’s 2020 Platform declaration, they mentioned cybersecurity by committing to “maintain American capabilities that can deter cyber threats” and “to protect individuals’ data and defend critical infrastructure, including the global financial system.”

As Vice President, Biden was tasked with confronting Russia about its involvement in hacking American targets. Threat assessors expect this to continue and even be ramped up along with pressure applied to China regarding their exploits in targeting various U.S. government and private sector businesses.

Some Other Expectations

James Lewis, Senior Vice President of Strategic Technologies Program at the  Center for Strategic and International Studies, also expects Biden to reverse some of the cybersecurity decisions Trump made, such as restoring cybersecurity structures that were in place prior to his presidency. These moves may affect how U.S. Cyber Command and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security operate and how much overlap extends beyond the White House and these agencies.

In May 2018, Trump eliminated the top cybersecurity coordinator role for the White House. Rob Joyce held the position and has since moved to the National Security Agency. According to DataBreach Today, Lewis expects Biden to reinstate this role. Threat experts fault Trump for eliminating this role, especially in the wake of the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved in a large-scale hacking campaign aimed at the 2016 election.

Trump also revoked other cybersecurity initiatives enacted by President Obama during his reign. The Trump administration excused these moves by saying he did so to enable U.S. agencies the freedom to counter-attack campaigns waged by other countries. 

Experts seem to agree that Trump’s handling of cybersecurity while in office was ineffective at best and that it left the U.S. wide open for the tremendous influx of country-backed attacks occurring all across the United States, especially from Russian hackers. 

Biden’s Plan for Russia

During his campaign, Biden alluded to the fact that he would aggressively pursue the attacks coming from Russia, particularly those aimed at government agencies, political campaigns, and elections. During the summer, Biden claimed that he would “make full use of my executive authority to impose substantial and lasting costs on state perpetrators.” He also added, “If elected president, I will treat foreign interference in our election as an adversarial act that significantly affects the relationship between the United States and the interfering nation’s government.”

During Biden’s stint as Vice President when word of interference with the 2016 election, he vowed to use all the cybersecurity resources available to send Russia a “message.”

Although there was plenty of evidence to the contrary, Trump dismissed the idea that Russia had any involvement in the 2016 campaign. Robert Mueller, former Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, led an investigation into Russian involvement, which led to arrests of Russian nationals. 

What About China

Lewis also expects that Biden will continue the full-court press on China cybercriminals that are already in place. DataBreach Today reported that “During the Trump administration, the Department of Justice continued to take cyberespionage and data theft cases to grand juries, often resulting in indictments against members of China’s military.”

Although there is little hope of extradition or Chinese culprits serving any time in U.S. prisons, the indictments send a strong message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

Keep CISA

During Trump’s presidency, he did create the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. Expectations are that Biden will keep this agency in place and even expand its role further. 

Currently, CISA is in charge of evaluating and securing government networks and systems. They are also tasked with warning the general public about new cybersecurity threats like malware, phishing emails, and ransomware attacks on the horizon.

Christoper Krebs currently leads CISA, and Biden has not indicated he has any plans to change leadership there. Krebs is responsible for identifying multiple incidents related to Russia and Iran and was the voice of reason during the election reassuring the government and the general public that the election had not been compromised in any way due to cybersecurity issues.