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On Wednesday, US President Biden called on the private tech sector to raise the bar on cyber-security in the United States. He also invited a number of Big Tech CEOs to the White House to discuss his administration’s efforts to combat cyber-security threats among a bundle of cyber-attacks on US companies and government entities in recent months. These attacks include the State Department, the Colonial Pipeline, JBS, Electronic Arts, and the US Agency for International Development. Biden delivered his words on Wednesday briefing and said, “Most of our critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, and the federal government can’t meet this challenge alone”. He also addressed his guests including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and others.

Biden said, “You have the power, the capacity, and the responsibility to raise the bar on cyber-security and help fill 500,000 unfilled cyber-security jobs”. He pointed out his efforts to improve the nation’s cyber-security since he took office. It includes a 100-day initiative to empower the cyber-security of critical infrastructure in the United States. The initiative prompted 150 electric utilities serving about 90 million Americans to commit to adopting new security technologies. He also brought up his June summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden made it clear that he would hold Russia accountable for cyber-attacks on the US entities linked to Russian hackers. However, the President was mocked after the summit for his decision to list 16 critical US infrastructure sectors that Russian cyber-attacks should not target.

President Biden finally brought up his administration’s efforts to launch a task force designed at cracking down on hackers responsible for ransomware attacks. He said, “Today, my team is hosting a meeting, bringing together 30 nations to step up their fight against ransomware”. President also met privately with the CEOs to discuss other matters. The White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a press conference that the Biden administration has made clear that it expects private sector companies to report when they have experienced a cyber-breach. Our view has long been that it is a combined responsibility of the federal government to put in place clear guidelines, clear best practices, and the private sector to take measures to empower their own cyber-security”.