President Donald Trump signed an executive order June 6 to strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity defenses, targeting critical digital infrastructure in response to persistent foreign cyber threats.
The order amends Executive Order 14144, originally issued in January 2025, which focuses on cybersecurity innovation. According to the updated directive, China remains the most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. government and private networks, followed by Russia, Iran and North Korea.
The revised order directs federal agencies to adopt new measures to improve cyber defense. Key initiatives include:
- Creating a public-private consortium by August 2025 to guide secure software development.
- Updating federal software patching guidelines by September 2025.
- Developing post-quantum cryptography standards by 2030 to protect against future quantum computing threats capable of breaking existing encryption methods.
- Expanding the use of AI to detect vulnerabilities and enhance cyber defense.
- Requiring vendors of consumer Internet-of-Things devices sold to the federal government to comply with cybersecurity labeling standards by 2027.
