Biden urges 'immediately' hardened cyber defenses, citing Russia

As Biden's memo noted, the administration and Congress have worked to shore up funding for cyber defense, particularly among critical infrastructure entities such as healthcare. "If you have not already done so, I urge our private sector partners to harden your cyber defenses immediately by implementing the best practices we have developed together over the last year," Biden's memo continued. President Biden's memo followed a joint alert from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency this past week about state-sponsored Russian actors exploiting default multi factor authentication protocols and a known vulnerability. "You have the power, the capacity, and the responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of the critical services and technologies on which Americans rely," said Biden in his memo.