White House issues warnings of cyberattacks; suggests companies make cybersecurity a bigger priority

As more malware attacks occur world-wide, the White House and National Security Agency (NSA) have elevated protection from malware attacks to the top of President Joe Biden’s national security agenda.

Because of the recent attacks on the Colonial Pipeline and JBS SA, the Brazilian meat production company, the White House is now encouraging major corporations to protect themselves against these types of incidents.

Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, noted that there has been a shift from stealing data to interfering with the operations of major companies. 

Federal agencies and organizations that do business with the U.S. government are already required to have certain protections in place.

According to the New York Times, there has been a rush to protect the U.S. from these types of attacks by developing defensive infrastructures, but companies have been too slow to adapt, partly because the cost was too high and because they did not expect any such attacks so soon.

The latest ransomware attack occurred Thursday on Cox Media Group, which owns TV and radio stations in 20 media markets around the U.S. The attack resulted in the shutdown of TV and radio streams, according to The Hill.