Key Highlights:
- The White House convened a cybersecurity meeting with CEOs from industries ranging from technology to insurance.
- The conference comes in the wake of a spate of cyberattacks that have heightened the importance of security concerns.
- Following the summit, major technology giants such as Google and Microsoft pledged to spend billions of dollars on cybersecurity.
Bolstering cybersecurity
At a White House meeting with President Joe Biden on Aug 25, business executives from technology to insurance promised billions of dollars to bolster cybersecurity efforts.
The conference comes in the aftermath of numerous high-profile cyberattacks, including those on government software contractor SolarWinds and oil pipeline Colonial Pipeline, which have heightened the importance of such security concerns.
The promises range from working toward new industry standards to giving stronger security tools to other firms and providing skill training to employees to fill the estimated 500,000 vacant cybersecurity positions in the United States. Biden recently signed an executive order forcing US government entities to utilize two-factor authentication for logins, which can aid in the prevention of cyberattacks.
Big tech investments
According to the White House, Apple will establish a program to strengthen security throughout their technological supply chains, which will involve working with vendors to implement multifactor authentication and security training.
Google announced a $10 billion investment in cybersecurity over the next five years, as well as a commitment to training 100,000 Americans in technical fields such as IT support and data analytics through its Career Certificate program. Google’s financial contribution will be used, among other things, to enhance the software supply chain and open-source security.
Microsoft pledged $20 billion over five years to offer more advanced security capabilities, according to a tweet from CEO Satya Nadella following the meeting. He went on to say that Microsoft will contribute $150 million to assist government agencies in upgrading their security systems and expanding cybersecurity training collaborations. Microsoft spends $1 billion each year on cybersecurity since 2015.
IBM stated that it will educate more than 150,000 individuals in cybersecurity skills over the next three years, while also collaborating with historically Black schools and institutions to help diversify the workforce. In addition, the business launched a new data storage solution for critical infrastructure organizations and stated that it is trying to develop secure encryption techniques for quantum computing.
The problem of the decade
On the eve of the meeting, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told that cybersecurity is the “problem of the decade.” He expressed optimism that the conference will result in increased collaboration between the public and private sectors, and he stated that IBM would do its share to assist skilled employees in the field.
Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing business, intends to provide free multifactor authentication devices to account holders in order to improve data security. It also intends to provide “Security Awareness training” to businesses and people.
A representative for the financial services firm TIAA mentioned numerous current attempts to train more cybersecurity personnel. Among these is a collaboration with New York University that allows TIAA employees to earn a completely paid master’s degree in cybersecurity.
