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Apple to enhance security across supply chain following White House meeting

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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.

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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."



24 Comments

Anilu_777 9 Years · 586 comments

Anyone ask BlackBerry? Yeah it’s Canadian but still - that’s their bread and butter. 

Kuyangkoh 8 Years · 838 comments

It should start with the Government agencies. If hackers can access private datas how much more are the government which are slow w tons of gaps….Good Luck w that.  

slow n easy 10 Years · 402 comments

Anilu_777 said:
Anyone ask BlackBerry? Yeah it’s Canadian but still - that’s their bread and butter. 

Reading your first sentence, I started laughing. Then I saw your second sentence and realized that you weren’t joking. I wasn’t sure that BlackBerry was even still in business. I know that they haven’t produced their own Operating System since 2015 and I’m not sure if they’ve had any new products at all since 2018.

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crowley 16 Years · 10431 comments

Anilu_777 said:
Anyone ask BlackBerry? Yeah it’s Canadian but still - that’s their bread and butter. 

Wouldn’t that be a riot, if Apple turned to, or bought BlackBerry, to help sort out their security issues.

GeorgeBMac 9 Years · 11421 comments

This is so sad....
We are apparently taking the same approach to hackers as we took to the Corona Virus:   H I D E    F R O M     I T !

With the Corona Virus, instead of aggressively attacking the virus we were told to (ONLY) hide in our houses or hide behind masks.   While admittedly better than nothing, it allowed the virus to roam our streets and stalk our schools and businesses infecting as it went.   South Korea, China and others went after the virus instead of hiding from it and controlled it successfully -- while protecting their people and economies.

Likewise, while cyber thieves and hackers roam our nation looking for openings we plan to play defense only -- with billions of dollars spent trying to block their entrance.

The analogy to both is:  A serial killer roaming the streets:   Would you tell your people to hide behind locked doors and shuttered windows till he decides to stop?   Or, would you send police out to find him and stop him?

THAT is what we need for cybercrimes and hacking:   Aggressive Offense.   Not defense.   Criminals will always find a way around any defense if given free rein and enough time.

(And, another is to hold businesses accountable when their customer's data is stolen.  My data has been stolen from a business at least three times -- and none of those businesses suffered any consequences.  So why would they devote resources to stopping it?)

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