WASHINGTON — (AP) — President Joe Biden issued an executive order Thursday aimed at strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity and making it easier to go after foreign adversaries or hacking groups that try to compromise U.S. internet and telecommunication systems.
The order calls for the development of minimum cybersecurity standards for government technology contractors and requires that contractors submit evidence that they’re complying.
It is also aimed at making it easier for U.S. authorities to penalize foreign governments that target the U.S. with cyberattacks, in the wake of recent hacking incidents linked to China, Iran, Russia and North Korea. Among other changes, the order allows sanctions to be imposed on foreign hackers who target hospitals or other organizations with ransomware.
The order requires federal agencies to improve cybersecurity to protect against the threat posed by powerful quantum computers, which experts say could be used to easily break into many systems. That could have direct national security …