Trump cyber executive order aims to amend ‘problematic’ parts of Biden, Obama cyber orders

President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing in ceremony for U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro in the Oval Office of the White House on May 28, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order aiming to streamline past administrations’ cybersecurity executive actions and strip mandates seen as overly prescriptive or ideological.

The order is the first of several mandates already signed by Trump in his second term that explicitly focuses on cybersecurity. It amends parts of a Biden-era order signed in January before Trump’s return to the Oval Office, as well as a cornerstone Obama-era directive signed a decade ago that authorized the use of sanctions on individuals and firms engaged in malicious cyber activities.

The Obama order laid the groundwork for sanctioning policies that have been used by agencies including the State Department and Treasury Department to financially ...