Governance, Risk and Compliance

Biden administration preps cross-sector, cross-agency cyber summit

President Joe Biden walks through the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, June 23, 2021, to the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

On Wednesday, the Biden administration and leaders from the tech, energy, financial, insurance and education sectors will meet in a series of meetings to discuss national cybersecurity.

While it had previously been reported that the chief executives from broad, economy spanning tech giants Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft would be at the event, it will also include the CEOs from major infrastructural organizations: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, TIAA, US Bancorp, American Water, ConocoPhilips, Duke Energy, PG&E, SJW, Southern and Williams. They will be joined by insurance groups Travelers and Vantage, and the cyber insurance-focused Coalition and Resilience.

Educational leaders will include representatives from Code.org and Girls Who Code, as well as the presidents of Tougaloo College and Watcom Community College and the chancellor of the University of Texas system.

The Biden Administration will bring several security leaders: Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayokas, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger, National Cyber Director Chris Inglis and CISA Director Jen Easterly. It will also bring leadership across the government, including the secretaries of Energy and Commerce and the director of the National Economic Council.

The event will begin with a full attendee meeting with the president, followed by breakout sessions on critical infrastructure resilience to be attended by the delegates from infrastructure, building enduring cybersecurity for those from tech and insurance, and cybersecurity workforce for those from education.

The summit's broader focus continues a recent push by the Department of Homeland Security to emphasize workforce. It follows a string of efforts by the administration to tackle cyber threats targeting critical infrastructure segments, following attacks against Colonial Pipeline, the SolarWinds hack, among other high profile incidents. In July, Biden released a national security memorandum to improve the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure, asking the federal government to develop cybersecurity goals the infrastructure sector might aim to reach. That followed orders focused on security of of the oil and gas pipeline.

Joe Uchill

Joe is a senior reporter at SC Weekly, focused on policy issues. He previously covered cybersecurity for Axios, The Hill and the Christian Science Monitor’s short-lived Passcode website.

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