President Biden to host infosec roundtable with CEOs of tech giants

Anonymous sources told Bloomberg that the White House will host a meeting between President Joe Biden and some of the country’s biggest tech companies on Wednesday afternoon. According to these sources, the CEOs of Microsoft, Amazon and Apple have confirmed their attendance. Other large companies, including Google, IBM, Southern Company and JP Morgan, were invited.

The meeting aims to respond to the sharp increase in ransomware, online attacks and data breaches seen this year. While we don’t know the exact agenda, a senior official familiar with the event said talks about better supply chain security are likely, and there will likely be a focus on software solutions.

High-profile security vulnerabilities that Biden and the tech CEOs might discuss include, but are not limited to:

• This month’s T-Mobile server breach, which exposed up to 100 million Americans’ personal data
• July’s SolarWinds supply chain attack, which compromised server management tools themselves
• The massive Kaseya ransomware attack in July, which also initially targeted a management tool rather than the end victims themselves
• A multi-month Geico breach exposing driver’s license numbers, addresses, dates of birth, etc. client.
• Misconfigured Experian API that leaked credit scores of tens of millions of Americans
• A May attack that destroyed the Colonial Pipeline, disrupting fuel distribution on the US East Coast
• March attacks targeting small businesses, cities and local governments via Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities
• SIM swap attacks on T-Mobile customers in February, resulting from one or more of the company’s previous breaches

Bloomberg sources only mentioned CEOs, so it’s not clear whether the CISOs of the invited companies are also participating.

Neither the White House nor any of the companies mentioned responded to requests for comment from the press.