Cyber threats top agenda at White House meeting with Big Tech, finance executives By Reuters

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House asked Big Tech, the finance industry and key infrastructure companies to do more to tackle the growing cybersecurity threat to the U.S. economy in a meeting with President Joe Biden and members of his cabinet on Wednesday.

“The federal government can’t meet this challenge alone,” Biden told the masked executives, all seated at tables in the East Room. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Cybersecurity has risen to the top of the agenda for the Biden administration after a series of high-profile attacks on network management company SolarWinds Corp, the Colonial Pipeline company, meat processing company JBS and software firm Kaseya. The attacks hurt the United States far beyond just the companies hacked, affecting fuel and food supplies.

Biden touched on ransomware attacks and said he had pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold people responsible for attacks when he met him earlier this year.

The guest list included Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:) CEO Andy Jassy, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:) CEO Satya Nadella, Google’s parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc CEO Sundar Pichai and IBM (NYSE:) Chief Executive Arvind Krishna.

Microsoft said it will invest $20 billion over five years, a four-fold increase from current rates, to speed up its cyber security work. Microsoft also said it will make available $150 million in technical services to help federal, state and local governments to help keep their security systems up to date.

The meeting comes as Congress weighs legislation concerning data breach notification laws and cybersecurity insurance industry regulation, historically viewed as two of the most consequential policy areas within the field.

Executives for energy utility firm Southern Co (NYSE:) and financial giant JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:) are also expected to attend the event.

The event featured top cybersecurity officials from the Biden administration, including recently confirmed National Cybersecurity Director Chris Inglis, as well as Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, to lead different conversations with industry representatives.