In February, the term “cybersecurity” dropped to No. 13 in our top conversations in tech ranking while the composite topic registered a 1% increase, from ~98K stories in January to ~102K stories in February.

The month brought continued focus on the fallout from the SolarWinds breach wiith commentary all over the map – some observers called for more contact tracing for our data while others added to the speculation about the origins of the attack.

Meanwhile, Washington was in an impatient mood as Congress grilled the CEOs of SolarWinds, Microsoft, FireEye and Crowdstrike. The hearing made news as Microsoft and FireEye called for mandatory breach reporting requirements for private sector companies. Meanwhile, the White House named a new cybersecurity expert, Anne Neuberger, to lead the response to the hack. As details continue to be uncovered, I expect coverage of the attack will continue to lead the news for the next few months.

As I noted in a previous blog post, the biggest news in cybersecurity continues to revolve around state-sponsored hacks and the shift from malware distribution to credential harvesting and social engineering. For companies looking to stay top of mind with leading journalists, take note and engage when appropriate.