Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and other tech executives will meet President Biden at the White House this week. The focus of the meeting will be the efforts of private companies to improve cybersecurity following an increase in online attacks, one report claims.
There were 26 significant cybersecurity incidents around the world last month alone, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). At least six of those involved companies, organizations, or citizens in the United States.
A report from security researchers at PurpleSec predicts ransomware will continue to be the number one threat in the coming years. And 50% of security professionals say they do not believe their organizations are prepared to repel a ransomware attack.
Sources say President Biden, Tim Cook, and other prominent tech executives in the U.S. will this week discuss the rise in cybersecurity attacks — and what they can do to help prevent them.
Tim Cook heads to the White House
“Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Amazon’s Andy Jassy plan to attend the event scheduled for Wednesday afternoon,” reports Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Others from Google, IBM, and JPMorgan Chase have also been invited.
“The executives could discuss efforts undertaken by critical infrastructure entities, including those in the banking, energy and water utility sectors, to improve cybersecurity and collaborations with the government.”
It’s thought Cook and others will be called upon to discuss how software can improve security in the supply chain. However, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and the other companies involved declined to comment on the meeting.
Cybersecurity a big concern
The meeting comes after major attacks on critical energy infrastructure in the U.S., including those on Colonial Pipeline and cloud providers like Microsoft. It’s a problem many countries are facing as we become more and more reliant on software and technology.
2020 saw the first ever reported death related to a ransomware attack. A woman in Germany was unable to receive the urgent care she required when a hospital was locked out of its systems and unable to treat patients. The hospital said a vulnerability in a widely used software system was to blame.
