Last updated on August 13, 2025
President Biden’s Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity is a decisive step to modernize cybersecurity strategies and minimize the damage caused by cyberattacks. The Executive Order mandates Federal agencies to adopt multi-factor authentication (MFA) within 180 days. Furthermore, a set of strong security standards will be employed all across the Federal government. The Executive Order recognizes the threats associated with both public and private sector entities, and introduces robust countermeasures; from a zero-trust security model, through more secure cloud services, to risk-based authentication, to data encryption.
It has been decided that small steps towards security are insufficient in the face of the increasing wave of cybercrimes that have shaken America in recent years. Remarkably, some security incidents could have been avoided had multi-factor authentication been used by the victims. The White House Fact Sheet about the Executive Order mentions three malicious incidents: SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, and the Colonial Pipeline incident, and lists outdated security models and unencrypted data as the main causes of security breaches. Private sector companies are encouraged to invest in cybersecurity and strengthen their security systems to improve protection against malicious attacks and unauthorized access.
In addition to requiring Federal agencies to adopt MFA and encryption, the Executive Order introduces several other means of security. One of them involves establishing a Cyber Incident Review Board. The board is to assemble after every major security incident and suggest recommendations for improving cybersecurity.
Naturally, we at Rublon are most taken by the requirement of compulsory multi-factor authentication in all Federal agencies and the thoughtful call for all private companies to follow the lead and enable multi-factor authentication in their workforces. Passwords are easy to steal, break or guess and have long proved to be insufficient. Using passwords as a sole layer of security leads to data breaches, unauthorized access, and a sky-high success rate of malicious attacks. The Federal Government has finally taken firm action in this regard, and so should you.
Rublon empowers government security by conforming to the Digital Identity Guidelines of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). We are dedicated to helping all companies bolster their security by enabling strong and reliable risk-based multi-factor authentication. Rublon makes multi-factor authentication a breeze. If you are using the Mobile Push authentication request method, then one tap on your smartphone is all you need to keep all malicious parties away. Introduce an additional layer of security in the form of Rublon Multi-Factor Authentication to ensure the safety of your users and data. One tap makes a difference.
