New Executive Order On Cybersecurity Promises Major Changes Ahead For Government Contractors … And Beyond

On May 12, 2021, President Biden signed a landmark Executive Order to improve and modernize the federal government's cybersecurity infrastructure. The Executive Order comes in the wake of numerous cyber incidents targeting the United States, including the so-called SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, and Colonial Pipeline incidents. The Executive Order will directly affect government contractors, including companies that sell software to the government or provide IT services. More broadly, but less directly, the Executive Order is likely to influence the informal, and eventually formal, development of cybersecurity standards for software and hardware makers and providers of online services generally, even when the government is not a customer.