Stung, White House orders rapid cybersecurity fixes

The White House has ordered federal agencies to take immediate steps to make some basic cybersecurity fixes. The move follows a massive breach of government employee records.

Agencies were told to scan systems and check logs for indicators of threats, patch critical vulnerabilities “without delay,” as well as tighten policies and practices for privileged users, including minimizing the number of people in this category and limiting the duration a privileged user can be logged in.

The White House also wants to “dramatically accelerate implementation” of multi-factor authentication, and said intruders “can easily steal or guess” username and passwords. But requiring use of a personal identity verification (the government’s name for its smart card), or some other means of multi-factor authentication can “significantly reduce the risk of adversaries.”

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