Biden tackles cybersecurity at tech summit
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden met with top executives from some of the country’s leading technology companies and financial institutions Wednesday as the White House urged the private sector to help toughen cybersecurity defenses against increasingly sophisticated attacks.
The summit occurred during a relentless stretch of ransomware attacks that targeted critical infrastructure, in some cases with the attackers extorting multimillion-dollar payments from major corporations, as well as other illicit cyber operations that U.S. authorities have linked to foreign hackers.
In public remarks before the private meeting got underway, Biden referred to cybersecurity as a “core national security challenge” for the United States.
“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. “I’ve invited you all here today because you have the power, the capacity and the responsibility, I believe, to raise the bar on cybersecurity.”
Though ransomware was one focus of Wednesday’s gathering, the purpose of the meeting was broader and centered on identifying the “root causes of malicious cyber activities” and ways in which the private sector can help bolster cybersecurity, said a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The guest list for Wednesday’s meeting included Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy and Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company.
Also on the list were the leaders of IBM, Microsoft and Automatic Data Processing.
Besides Biden, multiple Cabinet secretaries and national security officials represented the administration.
The gathering took place as the president’s national security team has been consumed by the U.S. troop withdrawal in Afghanistan and the chaotic evacuation of Americans and Afghan citizens from Kabul’s airport after the Taliban seized the country.