The Biden administration is looking to create and implement the nation’s first comprehensive plan to regulate the security practices of cloud service providers
like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle, which are entrusted with
highly sensitive data from government institutions and private
businesses.
The White House asserts that a thorough regulatory
framework is needed to prevent potential system collapses and unwanted
data leaks and stop foreign hackers from renting space on U.S. cloud
servers.
- Kemba
Walden, Acting National Cyber Director, says that the cloud has “become
essential to our daily lives” but that if disrupted, “could create
large potentially catastrophic disruptions to our economy and to our
government.”
- A
cloud collapse could bar hospitals from accessing medical records, shut
down transportation infrastructure, manipulate the software behind the
stock market, and wipe out databases used by businesses and public
sector organizations.
- The Biden administration recently announced plans to mandate cloud providers to verify user identity to prevent such hackers from renting U.S. cloud infrastructure.
- In January 2021, the Trump administration passed Executive Order 13984,
which “addresses the threat posed by the use of U.S. cloud
infrastructure by foreign malicious cyber actors to conduct malicious
cyber-enabled activities.” Although this order was passed, it has not
been properly implemented due to a lack of funds that were to be
provided by the Commerce Department.
