Apple, Amazon and Microsoft CEOs to meet with Biden on cybersecurity

After more than a year in which the United States has faced numerous cyberattacks hospitals, banks, and roughly everything else, President Joe Biden is look to the best tech players for advice. Bloomberg was first to report that Biden is scheduled to meet with CEOs of Apple, Microsoft and Amazon on Wednesday to discuss private sector efforts to strengthen their cybersecurity.

Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reported that Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Amazon’s Andy Jassy were planning to attend a White House event scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. (“People familiar with the matter” also confirmed to Gizmodo that Jassy would attend the meeting.) Meanwhile, CNBC reported that IBM CEO Arvind Krishna would also be present at the meeting.

The big bosses of other big companies, including banks and energy companies, would also be on the invitation list. Bloomberg reported that JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon received an invitation and Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning intends to attend.

Asked for comment, Amazon declined to publicly post comment on the meeting. A Microsoft spokesman fired Gizmodo to the White House. The White House, IBM, Apple and JP Morgan did it not answered yet to requests for comments.

Bloomberg does not have get the details of what these executives would talk about while in the White House, but given that this is Biden we’re talking about, it’s worth assuming “Infrastructure“will be at the top of the list. Last month, the White House issued a Memorandum on National Security which aimed to help some major private sector players, such as the aforementioned banks, set “new standards” to strengthen their cybersecurity strongholds.

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It looks like Biden will try to woo these CEOs to help him achieve that goal. A senior official told Bloomberg that executives “are likely to discuss how software can improve supply chain security.”

And frankly, the supply chain needs all the help it can get. When cyber attacks hit these infrastructure strongholds, jobs are being lost, gas price ascend, and the water supply of entire cities poisoned. Unless the Biden administration gets a handle on these hacks ASAP, things will only get worse.