The US government has announced plans to bolster its cyber defences at a time when cyber attackers are increasingly targeting the country.

In a statement issued by the White House on Thursday, the government said that the strategy will guide future policy making. It calls for tighter regulation of existing cybersecurity practices across industries and greater collaboration between the public and private sectors.

The strategy also calls for improving standards of patching vulnerabilities in systems and implementing an executive order which would require cloud operators to verify the identity of foreign customers.

The ongoing illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine has seen cyber warfare deployed by the invading force to disrupt activity and infrastructure. Russia and China are both named as the most prominent cybersecurity threats to the US.

In a call with reporters, a spokesperson for the White House said that the strategy is aimed at reigning in Russian hackers and described the country as “a de facto safe haven for cybercrime”.

They added: "The criminal justice system isn't going to be able to on its own address this problem – we do need to look at other elements of national power. So we're hopeful that Russia understands the consequences of malicious activity in cyberspace, and will continue to be restrained."

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