Republican U.S. Senate candidate Katie Boyd Britt on Monday said that cybersecurity needs to be a part of her broader focus on national security.
“The federal government’s overarching duty is ensuring our national security,” Britt said. “This starts with strong border security, including building the wall and comprehensively protecting our physical borders. However, modern national defense also mandates that we have the best cybersecurity — and offensive — capabilities and personnel in the world.”
“In the past month, Americans have suffered as a result of supply interruptions to both the gas supply and the food supply by foreign cyberattacks,” Britt said. “The House and Senate must take meaningful steps immediately to protect Americans from the types of supply chain disruptions and financial losses that are resulting from these attacks.”
“Cybersecurity must be a top priority, and I will be a champion for our nation’s security – at our physical borders and in cyberspace,” Britt said.
American corporations are increasingly coming under attack from organized crime syndicates, possibly backed by rogue governments, where entire systems are shut down remotely from cyber attacks. The company then has to pay ransom to get control of their own systems back. JBS, the largest meatpacker in the world, and the Colonial Pipeline were just two high-profile corporations who paid millions in ransom recently after their operations were crippled by these cyber attacks.
The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence on Wednesday released a new preliminary draft report along with the National Institute of Standards and Technology on Ransomware Risk Management.
Ransomware is a type of malicious attack where attackers encrypt an organization’s data and demand payment to restore access. In some instances, attackers may also steal an organization’s information and demand an additional payment in return for not disclosing the information to authorities, competitors or the public. Ransomware can disrupt or halt organizations’ operations.
This report defines a Ransomware Profile, which identifies security objectives from the NIST Cybersecurity Framework that support preventing, responding to, and recovering from ransomware events. The profile can be used as a guide to managing the risk of ransomware events. That includes helping gauge an organization’s level of readiness to mitigate ransomware threats and to react to the potential impact of events.
Britt is formerly the president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama. Britt formerly served on Sen. Richard Shelby’s, R-Alabama, staff. Shelby is retiring at the end of this term.
Congressman Mo Brooks and former Ambassador to Slovenia Lynda Blanchard are also running for the Senate seat. There is still plenty of time for other candidates to enter this race. The Republican primary will be May 24, 2022.
