Biden on Wednesday (March 30) extended the state of national emergency declared to deal with increasingly prevalent and severe malicious cyber threats to the U.S. national security, foreign policy, and economy.
The national emergency was declared on April 1, 2015, by former President Obama through Executive Order 13694, which also sanctioned the individuals coordinating or contributing to cyberattacks against the US.
On December 28, 2016, Obama issued Executive Order 13757 to amend E.O. 13694 because such malicious attacks were being used to undermine democratic processes and institutions. In the context of E.O. 13694, such cyber-enabled malicious activity includes critical infrastructure breaches, denial of service attacks, and data theft incidents that pose a significant threat to US national security, foreign policy, economic health, or financial stability.
“Significant malicious cyber-enabled activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Biden said.
“Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13694 with respect to significant malicious cyber-enabled activities.”
