Apple to enhance security across supply chain following White House meeting
After Apple CEO Tim Cook met with President Joe Biden on Wednesday, the company is expected to create a new program focused on increasing security and cyber threat awareness across its technological supply chains.
Apple's program will introduce security enhancements to its supply chain, including the adoption of multi-factor authentication and security training, the White House said, according to CNBC.
Cook and a cadre of tech industry elite met with Biden on Wednesday to discuss cybersecurity concerns in the wake of a rash of attacks that impacted key U.S. infrastructure and technology entities. Along with Apple, companies like Google, IBM and Microsoft committed to security efforts including the development of new industry standards, supplying other firms with more effective security tools and providing training for cybersecurity jobs, the report said.
Apple's pledge was the least specific of those offered by Big Tech firms represented at today's meeting.
Microsoft pledged a $20 billion investment in security solutions over five years, CEO Satya Nadella said in a tweet. He added that $150 million will help U.S. government agencies upgrade their existing systems and expand the company's cybersecurity training partnerships.
Google promised to invest more than $10 billion over five years toward cybersecurity efforts and said it would train 100,000 people in IT support, data analytics and other related fields through its Career Certificate program, CEO Sundar Pichai said in a tweet.
IBM committed to the training of 150,000 people in cybersecurity skills in three years and announced a new data storage solution for critical infrastructure companies, the report said. The company also said it would partner with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to further workforce diversification, and noted that it is currently working on encryption methods for quantum computing.
Amazon Web Services plans to roll out free multi-factor authentication devices to account holders and said it will offer "Security Awareness training" to organizations and individuals, according to CNBC.
During the meeting, Biden framed cybersecurity as an urgent matter of national security and called on the private sector to beef up existing assets.
"The reality is most of our critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, and the federal government can't meet this challenge alone," Biden said at the meeting, according to The Washington Post. "You have the power, capacity and responsibility, I believe, to raise the bar on cybersecurity. Ultimately we've got a lot of work to do."
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Apple's program will introduce security enhancements to its supply chain, including the adoption of multi-factor authentication and security training, the White House said, according to CNBC.
Cook and a cadre of tech industry elite met with Biden on Wednesday to discuss cybersecurity concerns in the wake of a rash of attacks that impacted key U.S. infrastructure and technology entities. Along with Apple, companies like Google, IBM and Microsoft committed to security efforts including the development of new industry standards, supplying other firms with more effective security tools and providing training for cybersecurity jobs, the report said.
Apple's pledge was the least specific of those offered by Big Tech firms represented at today's meeting.
Microsoft pledged a $20 billion investment in security solutions over five years, CEO Satya Nadella said in a tweet. He added that $150 million will help U.S. government agencies upgrade their existing systems and expand the company's cybersecurity training partnerships.
Google promised to invest more than $10 billion over five years toward cybersecurity efforts and said it would train 100,000 people in IT support, data analytics and other related fields through its Career Certificate program, CEO Sundar Pichai said in a tweet.
IBM committed to the training of 150,000 people in cybersecurity skills in three years and announced a new data storage solution for critical infrastructure companies, the report said. The company also said it would partner with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to further workforce diversification, and noted that it is currently working on encryption methods for quantum computing.
Amazon Web Services plans to roll out free multi-factor authentication devices to account holders and said it will offer "Security Awareness training" to organizations and individuals, according to CNBC.
During the meeting, Biden framed cybersecurity as an urgent matter of national security and called on the private sector to beef up existing assets.
"The reality is most of our critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, and the federal government can't meet this challenge alone," Biden said at the meeting, according to The Washington Post. "You have the power, capacity and responsibility, I believe, to raise the bar on cybersecurity. Ultimately we've got a lot of work to do."
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Your last 2 paragraphs also makes no sense. In the majority of cases that someone is hacked it is from simple good practices that people are not following. For example bad passwords or not implementing 2-factor authentication or getting phished. People have tried to phish me many times. I received an e-mail recently that said I need to change my Apple ID password immediately or I will be locked out and they provided a link. People need to stop reflexively clicking on links without thinking.
Their is nothing wrong with the government stepping up to the plate with security measures that will at least slow down all of these businesses from getting hacked. It’s not possible to go after the bad guys because they live in countries that are our adversaries and we can’t easily get to those people. Defensive measures are not at all a bad idea.
China, S Korea and others not only quickly instituted mask wearing but aggressively identified and removed the infection from their society through aggressive testing and contact tracing. If you were infected, they identified that then identified those you had infected and prevented the infectious from infecting others.
While we had 500,000 dead and a crashed & trashed economy
I really disagree that we are following a defensive strategy on hacking, though. Up to now it looks to me like we have done absolutely nothing whatsoever about hacking. I have been feeling very angry that we keep getting attacked over and over and over again and nothing is being done about it. A big part of the problem is that companies have historically tried to keep quiet if they were hacked. I’m starting to feel like now we are starting to take this issue more seriously. I’m glad about the summit with the technology companies and I’m hoping that they have follow through and figure out some good solutions because all of this hacking needs to stop.
Suggestion? It sounds as tho you'd be good, better than good in fact, with counter-cyberwarfare against Chinese interests.
Chinese technology, infrastructure like dams and electricity, financial systems would all be appropriate targets to get their attention?
If you read comments from this week's meeting from Michael Daniel (Obama's cyber coordinator and now president of the Cyber Threat Alliance) and from President Biden you will see that this week's meeting wasn't a kumbaya around the campfire with all of these executives suddenly stepping up to do the right thing and throw their money and talents at the problem. Yes, they stepped up, cha-ching, but the messaging from the government's side was very much that they've spent a decade or more waiting for industry to voluntarily set standards for cyber security and not enough has actually happened. In other words, either you guys in the private sector help us really fix this or we'll impose mandatory requirements on you. That would not be in anyone's best interests, imho.
Hey, this public-private sector cooperation is all good, but it has to translate into real actions. It's pretty apparent that most of the big tech companies are taking this very seriously. The money side of these businesses will have to come to terms with the longer term impacts to their businesses. They can't simply write a big check and go back to what they were doing. The same thing holds for the government and public sector side as well. All of this technology and the ability to produce the hard and soft wares needed to create it and maintain it without disruption from natural and man-made disasters is as vital a part of our critical infrastructure as are bridges, airports, seaports, and highways. If the infrastructure things that we can actually lay our eyes on are in as bad a shape as they appear to be, just imagine how bad shape the things that we cannot see are in.
Blackberry also bought/further developed/sold QNX - an OS for cars, equipment, etc.
Maybe you missed this recently (2021): BlackBerry resisted announcing major flaw in software powering cars, hospital equipment - POLITICO
In this case you really should read the link I provided. Biden says the Chinese Government hired them. It wasn't simply "Chinese people" acting on their own accord so I do believe you have misunderstood.
Here ya go. Read it this time.
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/19/1017844801/biden-administration-accuses-china-microsoft-hack
The Biden administration official said that China's Ministry of State Security employed criminal contract hackers "to conduct unsanctioned cyber operations globally, including for their own personal profit."
Although the U.S. says criminal gangs of hackers with links to Russian intelligence carried out such audacious ransomware attacks as the one that caused Colonial Pipeline – a major U.S. petroleum distribution network – to shut down temporarily, China's outright hiring of contract hackers is "distinct," the official said.
Biden is not Trump, so let's give him the benefit of the doubt that he's not lying. With that in mind I'll ask you again: Your original comment sounds as tho you'd be good, better than good in fact, with counter-cyberwarfare against hackers who attack the US. Those hackers in this case are Chinese government hired with Chinese interests. So Chinese technology, infrastructure like dams and electricity, financial systems would all be appropriate targets to get their attention?
Unless you're just here to troll us you'll try to make more of an effort to be honest and acknowledge sometimes the Chinese Government does bad things that invite a response.
One question at a time as I have one more after you answer this one.