US making cybersecurity progress but work still needed, congressional report details

August 13, 2021

A report by the US Cyberspace Solarium Commission has found the US has made significant progress in shoring its cyber defences but that its work is not over yet.

According to Cyberscoop, almost 75% of the 82 recommendations that were made in the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s March 2020 report – which set out to examine ways the US could strengthen its digital resilience – have been implemented or are on track to be implemented, the report detailed.

The report highlighted that some of this improvement has been backed by a rush of high-profile cybersecurity incidents that have occurred over the past year. These include the significant SolarWinds attack in December last year as well as the equally damaging Colonial Pipeline hack in May 2021.

Following such incidents, the US government created a cybersecurity bureau within the State Department to collect cybersecurity incident statistics. There has also been multiple proposals for a national breach notification law. In addition, the suggestion for a national cyber director was also implemented.

However, the report detailed that while there has been initial success, there is still a lot more work to be done.

Cyberscoop explained that the Commission has faced challenges in gaining support for recommendations such as a national data security and privacy protection law – with the report underlining that such a law is ‘unlikely to move forward in the near future’.

Alongside this, the US has struggled to establish a House Permanent Select and Senate Select Committees on Cybersecurity which could help consolidate cybersecurity policymaking for a vast range of committees.

Commission co-chair and Republican Party Congressman Mike Gallagher said, “Over the past year, this commission has helped the country take considerable steps to strengthen its cyber defences. But as recent cyberattacks have made clear, our work is not yet done. This report outlines our progress and the steps we still need to take to ensure Americans’ lives and livelihoods are better protected online.”