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How to protect yourself from cybersecurity attacks | The TechTank Podcast

DHS cybersecurity

TechTank, a biweekly podcast from the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings, explores today’s most consequential technology issues. Moderators Nicol Turner Lee and Darrell West speak with experts and policymakers to share data, ideas, and policy solutions that address the challenges of our digital world.

At the end of 2020, reporting revealed the dramatic SolarWinds hack of major American businesses and government agencies. Russia broke into leading institutions and cybersecurity experts still are gauging the scope of the damage. 

But this isn’t the only hack that Americans need to be wary of. The pandemic has also revealed the weakness of private business and ordinary citizens to protect themselves against malware, phishing attacks, and unwanted intrusions. Taking advantage of the security lapses exposed by remote work, hackers have held whole cities and companies hostage. Ransomware skyrocketed over the last year and exposed our fundamental vulnerabilities.

In this situation, Congress and the Biden administration must act to stop nation-state actors and lone wolf attackers that constantly target Americans. The United States needs a clear plan to combat cyber intrusions and ordinary people need to exercise much better digital hygiene. 

In this episode of Tech Tank, Darrell West speaks with Congressman Jim Langevin of Rhode Island on how government, business, and regular people can protect themselves from cybersecurity attacks.

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