Biden signs cybersecurity executive order after SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline attacks

President Biden signs a comprehensive Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity, directing federal agencies to modernize defenses, adopt zero-trust architecture, deploy multi-factor authentication, and improve threat information sharing with private sector critical infrastructure. The order responds to the 2020 SolarWinds hack (attributed to Russia) and the May 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack that disrupted fuel supplies across the Southeast and prompted the first declared national emergency for a cyber incident. The order establishes a new Cyber Safety Review Board modeled on the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate major cyber incidents.