Megan Brown Discusses Draft Executive Order on Cybersecurity

March 2, 2017

Megan L. Brown—a partner in Wiley Rein’s Telecom, Media & Technology and Privacy & Cybersecurity practices, was quoted in a March 1 Communications Daily article about the White House’s draft Executive Order on cybersecurity. The proposal contains language focusing specifically on the communications sector’s defenses against botnet attacks. Botnets are groups of interconnected computers that have been infected with malware and are controlled by cybercriminals, without the users’ knowledge.

Ms. Brown said singling out the communications sector with respect to botnets is “not the best way to address cybersecurity holistically.” She added that communications sector stakeholders are already working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and are engaged in multistakeholder efforts, to address botnet issues.

“The communications sector is not asleep at the switch” on botnets, and DHS has “a variety of very effec­tive efforts underway” that target such cyber threats, Ms. Brown said.