Topline
Now that President-elect Joe Biden has been officially authorized to begin his transition to the presidency, his team finally has access to the federal cybersecurity support needed to secure their sensitive information and communications, with the team moving to an official and more secure .gov domain after weeks of using commercially available services hosted by Google.
President-elect Joe Biden's transition team now have an official .gov domain to host operations.
Key Facts
After weeks of demurring, the head of the General Services Administration finally authorized Biden to formally begin his transition to president Monday, giving him access to a swathe of resources meant to aid the move.
Official cybersecurity support is included in this package, and Biden took to Twitter to announce the new .gov domain for his site buildbackbetter.gov.
The official government domains are generally more secure and better able to withstand attacks than other domains, and are considered to be critical infrastructure.
Previously, the Biden team’s operations, including communications, had been hosted on standard commercial services run by Google, the Wall Street Journal reports, with additional security measures put in place to safeguard against attacks.
For obvious reasons, a presidential transition team is an attractive target for intelligence operatives and hackers, and though the Biden team gave assurances that it had implemented safety measures on par with the federal government, some officials said that forcing a presidential transition team to rely on commercial email services constituted a threat to national security.
Crucial Quote
The government’s digital services website notes: “Because .gov domains are intertwined with access to government services, that makes the [top-level domain]
critical infrastructure for governments, citizens, and international internet users. Everyone who uses online U.S. government services is indirectly but materially affected by the security enhancements DotGov implements.”Key Background
The weeks-long delay in President Donald Trump and the GSA acknowledging Joe Biden as the victor of the presidential election had left the Biden-Harris transition team without the vital support needed to prepare for taking office in two months. Before Monday’s ascertainment, Biden had repeatedly pleaded to the administration to allow him to begin preparing for office, warning that his inability to receive intelligence briefings was a threat to national security and the nation’s Covid-19 pandemic response.
Further Reading
Biden-Harris team finally get their transition .gov domain (TechCrunch)
Trump And GSA Authorize Biden To Begin Presidential Transition (Forbes)
Biden Team Lacks Full U.S. Cybersecurity Support in Transition Fracas (Wall Street Journal)
