Google and Microsoft promise billions to help bolster US cybersecurity

Tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft promised to help bolster US cybersecurity after a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday. The pledges vary by company but range from spending billions on cyber infrastructure to offering supply-chain aid and education.

Wednesday’s high-profile meeting with tech CEOs comes on the heels of major cyberattacks against US government agencies and energy infrastructure like the Colonial Pipeline.

“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 Wednesday’s meeting.

Apple announced that it would work with its suppliers to “drive mass adoption of multi-factor authentication” as well as providing new security trainings, incident response, and vulnerability remediation. Amazon plans to offer a multi-factor authentication device to all Amazon Web Services account holders for free and to make all of the company’s employee security awareness training available to the public at no cost.

Google said it would spend more than $10 billion over the next five years to strengthen US cybersecurity and the software supply chain. Google also promised to train more than 100,000 Americans in data analytics and IT support through the company’s Career Certificate program. Microsoft said that it would invest $20 billion in five years, making similar promises as Google.

Wednesday’s meeting was attended by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Apple CEO TIm Cook, IBM Chair and CEO Arvind Krishna, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, along with representatives from other industries like energy and education.