Tim Cook visiting White House on Wednesday to discuss cyber attacks

AppleInsider

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella plan to visit the White House this week to discuss pressing cybersecurity concerns with President Joe Biden, according to a report on Monday.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports Cook and Nadella are scheduled to meet with Biden on Wednesday to discuss private sector contributions to cybersecurity efforts following a rash of attacks targeting key U.S. infrastructure and technology assets.

The conversation could include recent steps taken by companies in the banking, energy and water utility industries to beef up protections against cyber attacks, the report said. A senior official with knowledge of the meeting said software security in the supply chain would likely be a topic of discussion.

Executives from Google, Amazon, IBM, Southern Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are also invited to the gathering. Southern Co. CEO Tom Fanning plans to attend, the source said.

Cook has met with government representatives at the White House on multiple occasions during his tenure as chief executive of the world's most valuable tech company. Over the past four years, the tech executive fostered a rare relationship with former President Donald Trump and leveraged that position to successfully lobby on the company's behalf.

Wednesday will be Cook's first official meeting with Biden, though the Apple chief has issued statements and penned letters urging the administration to fulfill promises related to immigration reform.

Read on AppleInsider

spartadata

Can you hear the crickets?! Listen… 

cgwerks

Klaus prognosticated the next big threat the world would face would be cyber-attacks, which would make Covid-19 look like child's play. I guess we have more 'fun' to look forward to (until we get to owning nothing and being happy with it, that is).

gusagain

"Hey Mr. President, I want to show you something we did that will raise user's privacy, the name is CSAM" lol

rattlhed

Hope Joe doesn't fall asleep on him. All this negative press about Afghanistan is wearing Joe out.

edited August 2021

georgebmac

Cyber attacks and cyber warfare goes FAR beyond this handful of companies -- its scope goes wide and deep throughout America's government, private companies and its people.

This discussion is likely to do more to gloss over the problem than protect anything.

georgebmac

rattlhed said:

Hope Joe doesn't fall asleep on him. All this negative press about Afghanistan is wearing Joe out.

LOL...

So that's the best slam you could come up with against our president?

Weak.   Very weak.

outdoorappdeveloper

Apple's new warrantless searches are a cyberattack. It is just being carried out by Apple instead of some faceless criminal organization.

9secondkox2

GusAgain said:

"Hey Mr. President, I want to show you something we did that will raise user's privacy, the name is CSAM" lol

Unfortunately, I think you are 100% correct. 

Apple gets to advertise as a privacy first company with a government pass to spy on users.

Not the Apple I have been evangelizing.

9secondkox2

GeorgeBMac said:

rattlhed said:

Hope Joe doesn't fall asleep on him. All this negative press about Afghanistan is wearing Joe out.

LOL...

So that's the best slam you could come up with against our president?

Weak.   Very weak.

Let's. be honest, there is an awful lot about Biden and his admin that anyone can legitimately criticize. He is clearly not fit for the most important job in the world. Neither is his VP, who was soundly rejected by the people for the same job when she ran  - and. elected to drop out in order to save face. 

There is much to criticize about most of our leaders. And the current administration is obviously in no way immune to criticisms or failure. 

But that's not what this article is about. We. already know that team Biden is not above speaking. out both. sides of the mouth. 

the question revolves around Apple this time. This is a new look for Apple,which has spent so long nurturing trust.And now that. is in. question. Whatever Cook is offering should be transparent to Apple users. 

octomonkey

9secondkox2 said:

GeorgeBMac said:

rattlhed said:

Hope Joe doesn't fall asleep on him. All this negative press about Afghanistan is wearing Joe out.

LOL...

So that's the best slam you could come up with against our president?

Weak.   Very weak.

Let's. be honest, there is an awful lot about Biden and his admin that anyone can legitimately criticize. He is clearly not fit for the most important job in the world. Neither is his VP, who was soundly rejected by the people for the same job when she ran  - and. elected to drop out in order to save face. 

There is much to criticize about most of our leaders. And the current administration is obviously in no way immune to criticisms or failure. 

But that's not what this article is about. We. already know that team Biden is not above speaking. out both. sides of the mouth. 

the question revolves around Apple this time. This is a new look for Apple,which has spent so long nurturing trust.And now that. is in. question. Whatever Cook is offering should be transparent to Apple users. 

Just a small point of clarification, they are not our "leaders" they are our representatives (whether their title is Representative, Senator, or President).  While the President may be the leader of the executive branch, that does not include me...  I am simply one of the fewer and fewer who pays (and pays and pays) for all the garbage which our government spews out.

filemakerfeller

GeorgeBMac said:

Cyber attacks and cyber warfare goes FAR beyond this handful of companies -- its scope goes wide and deep throughout America's government, private companies and its people.

So does MS software, and MS software development practices. Don't discount the power these two companies wield, even if they don't cover absolutely everything in use.

bobolicious

Shoshana Zuboff on surveillance capitalism | VPRO Documentary

georgebmac

9secondkox2 said:

GeorgeBMac said:

rattlhed said:

Hope Joe doesn't fall asleep on him. All this negative press about Afghanistan is wearing Joe out.

LOL...

So that's the best slam you could come up with against our president?

Weak.   Very weak.

Let's. be honest, there is an awful lot about Biden and his admin that anyone can legitimately criticize. He is clearly not fit for the most important job in the world. Neither is his VP, who was soundly rejected by the people for the same job when she ran  - and. elected to drop out in order to save face. 

There is much to criticize about most of our leaders. And the current administration is obviously in no way immune to criticisms or failure. 

But that's not what this article is about. We. already know that team Biden is not above speaking. out both. sides of the mouth. 

the question revolves around Apple this time. This is a new look for Apple,which has spent so long nurturing trust.And now that. is in. question. Whatever Cook is offering should be transparent to Apple users. 

I was responding to an idiot who was using this forum to propagate his political beliefs by smearing our president.   It's become the new American way:   instead of looking at what is the right way and the best way we look to smear and attack. 

For 2 decades those lies and smears and propaganda went unchallenged and therefor a large portion of the American people assumed that they were true and accurate.   We need return the country to doing what is right for the country rather than any one political party if we are ever to be great again.

And, I would suggest that you do the same:   If you believe that Biden is doing something wrong for the country then say so and why.  But instead you say:  "Let's. be honest, there is an awful lot about Biden and his admin that anyone can legitimately criticize."  If your goal is only to criticize then you have nothing of value to contribute.  Certainly nothing that will help our great nation.

georgebmac

OctoMonkey said:

9secondkox2 said:

GeorgeBMac said:

rattlhed said:

Hope Joe doesn't fall asleep on him. All this negative press about Afghanistan is wearing Joe out.

LOL...

So that's the best slam you could come up with against our president?

Weak.   Very weak.

Let's. be honest, there is an awful lot about Biden and his admin that anyone can legitimately criticize. He is clearly not fit for the most important job in the world. Neither is his VP, who was soundly rejected by the people for the same job when she ran  - and. elected to drop out in order to save face. 

There is much to criticize about most of our leaders. And the current administration is obviously in no way immune to criticisms or failure. 

But that's not what this article is about. We. already know that team Biden is not above speaking. out both. sides of the mouth. 

the question revolves around Apple this time. This is a new look for Apple,which has spent so long nurturing trust.And now that. is in. question. Whatever Cook is offering should be transparent to Apple users. 

Just a small point of clarification, they are not our "leaders" they are our representatives (whether their title is Representative, Senator, or President).  While the President may be the leader of the executive branch, that does not include me...  I am simply one of the fewer and fewer who pays (and pays and pays) for all the garbage which our government spews out.

Maybe you should move to Russia or Afghanistan if you dislike our democracy so much.  They have real leaders there. 

georgebmac

FileMakerFeller said:

GeorgeBMac said:

Cyber attacks and cyber warfare goes FAR beyond this handful of companies -- its scope goes wide and deep throughout America's government, private companies and its people.

So does MS software, and MS software development practices. Don't discount the power these two companies wield, even if they don't cover absolutely everything in use.

That's a good point.  Microsoft products, by design, are open to all -- including hackers*.  Yet they are the favored products of both industry and government that are being hacked.

Maybe the analogy is using a screen door to keep out microbes and viruses.

* That's not slam Microsoft.  By being so open they helped in significant ways to foster the PC revolution. 

jcs2305

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

Apple's new warrantless searches are a cyberattack. It is just being carried out by Apple instead of some faceless criminal organization.

From what I understand if you don't use icloud to back up your photos the warrantless searches as you put it can't be completed. Maybe I am wrong and someone else knows better than I do? There is a quote from Craig Federighi stating that there are two parts of the algorithm for scanning half is done on device and the other half is completed in the cloud.

Federighi said “the cloud does the other half of the algorithm,” so while photos are scanned on the device it requires iCloud to fully work. Federighi emphatically stated that the system is “literally part of the pipeline for storing images in iCloud.”

https://www.macworld.com/article/352875/ios-15-csam-scanning-icloud-photos-messages-siri-search-faq.html

Whether this is 100% true is debatable, but with a company as scrutinized as Apple if it isn't true it will be found out and there will be lawsuits. Not sure outright lying about this functionality is a very wise move, but I guess we will see. Apple has been scanning email for CSAM ( ingoing and outgoing ) since 2019.There have been no reports of false hits or anything out of the ordinary that I have heard or read about? Have you or anyone else here? If so please share..

"Apple confirmed to me that it has been scanning outgoing and incoming iCloud Mail for CSAM attachments since 2019. Email is not encrypted, so scanning attachments as mail passes through Apple servers would be a trivial task. Apple also indicated that it was doing some limited scanning of other data, but would not tell me what that was, except to suggest that it was on a tiny scale. It did tell me that the “other data” does not include iCloud backups".

https://gizmodo.com/apple-has-reportedly-been-scanning-your-icloud-mail-for-1847538826

Here is a link to the archived child safety page from Apple.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200110193302/https://www.apple.com/legal/child-safety/en-ww/index.html

Also let's be honest if you possess or are sharing this type of disgusting content and are stupid enough to trust any cloud storage not just that offered by Apple you should be caught. That also goes for any photos we deem "private" or may be "explicit" get the shit out of the cloud! Period..

This is like people that are soo afraid of getting the covid vaccine because of a chip that is implanted to track them. Yet they carry a cellphone everywhere and talk about the conspiracy on Face Book using the same phone?

I don't like that Apple is doing this don't get me wrong, but if it used in the an appropriate way to help with cracking down on explicit underage images being passed from one sicko to another it sits a bit better with me.

andyring

With all due respect to Tim Cook, I believe it would be best for the country, if not the world, if he were to decline this meeting. He should instead issue a statement that he would be happy to meet with White House officials after all Americans, American troops, desperate Afghan citizens and allies are safely removed from Afghanistan.

georgebmac

andyring said:

With all due respect to Tim Cook, I believe it would be best for the country, if not the world, if he were to decline this meeting. He should instead issue a statement that he would be happy to meet with White House officials after all Americans, American troops, desperate Afghan citizens and allies are safely removed from Afghanistan.

Why?  There's no connection.

One is ending a 20 year war with a country and its rulers who never did us any harm --and before anymore Americans have to die needlessly.

The other is discussing on-going attacks on our government, private industry and individual citizens.

cgwerks

jcs2305 said:
Also let's be honest if you possess or are sharing this type of disgusting content and are stupid enough to trust any cloud storage not just that offered by Apple you should be caught. That also goes for any photos we deem "private" or may be "explicit" get the shit out of the cloud! Period..

...

I don't like that Apple is doing this don't get me wrong, but if it used in the an appropriate way to help with cracking down on explicit underage images being passed from one sicko to another it sits a bit better with me.

I don't think you'll find any who will disagree (or admit it) with that. The problem is how it could be abused that is creating the fuss, not stopping CSAM.

This is a bit akin to backdoors to encryption to fight terrorism. It isn't a matter of if it will be abused, just when and to what extent. It always is.

GeorgeBMac said:
One is ending a 20 year war with a country and its rulers who never did us any harm --and before anymore Americans have to die needlessly.

Sorry to go further OT, but I don't think the issue is ending it... Trump was trying to do that as well (so, it would seem both sides of the political equation - aside from the bi-partisan neocon warmongers - are in agreement). I think the problem is how it is being done. The 'conspiracy theory' camp has some compelling evidence this is what was wanted to happen. But, even if not, a lot of money was funneled to protecting and transporting poppies and not really training the Afghans in any effective way. Ultimately, I guess the buck stops at Biden, but I doubt this was his plan and that he messed up (as is being portrayed). This was too organized of chaos for that.

georgebmac

cgWerks said:

jcs2305 said:
Also let's be honest if you possess or are sharing this type of disgusting content and are stupid enough to trust any cloud storage not just that offered by Apple you should be caught. That also goes for any photos we deem "private" or may be "explicit" get the shit out of the cloud! Period..

...

I don't like that Apple is doing this don't get me wrong, but if it used in the an appropriate way to help with cracking down on explicit underage images being passed from one sicko to another it sits a bit better with me.

I don't think you'll find any who will disagree (or admit it) with that. The problem is how it could be abused that is creating the fuss, not stopping CSAM.

This is a bit akin to backdoors to encryption to fight terrorism. It isn't a matter of if it will be abused, just when and to what extent. It always is.

GeorgeBMac said:
One is ending a 20 year war with a country and its rulers who never did us any harm --and before anymore Americans have to die needlessly.

Sorry to go further OT, but I don't think the issue is ending it... Trump was trying to do that as well (so, it would seem both sides of the political equation - aside from the bi-partisan neocon warmongers - are in agreement). I think the problem is how it is being done. The 'conspiracy theory' camp has some compelling evidence this is what was wanted to happen. But, even if not, a lot of money was funneled to protecting and transporting poppies and not really training the Afghans in any effective way. Ultimately, I guess the buck stops at Biden, but I doubt this was his plan and that he messed up (as is being portrayed). This was too organized of chaos for that.

Biden's plan?

Even the Taliban was surprised that they took over so quickly and easily.   We taught the Afghans how to fight.  We didn't teach them that they needed to fight.  They collected our salaries then turned and ran when they had to fight.  It was a failure of both military training and intelligence.  Our military paid them, trained them and were with them every day but apparently had no clue that they wouldn't fight -- but instead, when it came time to fight, they just handed our equipment over to the Taliban then ran away.

Over 2 decades we didn't build a nation.  We built a Trillion dollar house of cards.

edited August 2021