Trump Administration Revises Cybersecurity Rules, Replaces Biden and Obama Orders

The Trump Administration has issued a new Executive Order significantly revising US cybersecurity rules, replacing previous orders from the Biden and Obama administrations.

A key takeaway is the order's limitation of cybersecurity-related sanctions exclusively to foreign malicious actors. The White House stated this change aims to prevent the misuse of sanctions against domestic political opponents and clarify that they do not apply to election-related activities.

The new order also removes several requirements mandated by the Biden administration's January 2025 Executive Order, including:

• Mandating software vendors to prove compliance with new federal security standards.
• Prioritizing research and testing of AI for cyber defense.
• Accelerating the rollout of post-quantum encryption (PQC).

Further changes introduced in the Trump order include:

• Eliminating the voluntary cybersecurity certification and labeling program for IoT devices.
• Adjusting or removing certain supply chain security measures.
• Revising or eliminating parts of AI cybersecurity guidelines.
• Dropping requirements for government agencies to test phishing-resistant authentication.

Despite these removals, the White House states the order supports initiatives to enhance US cybersecurity, focusing on advancing secure software development, strengthening border gateway security, refocusing AI efforts on vulnerability detection, and establishing machine-readable cybersecurity standards and IoT trust designations.

The Administration emphasized a focus on “technical and organizational professionalism to improve the security and resilience of the nation’s information systems and networks.”