MS and Google, in talks with Biden, pledge at least 35 trillion won for cybersecurity enhancement

Apple, IBM, Amazon, and JP Morgan CEOs Also Attend
Biden Emphasizes Private Sector Cooperation to Strengthen Cybersecurity

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] After meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, CEOs of major U.S. big tech companies announced plans to invest at least 35 trillion won in strengthening cybersecurity.

On the 25th (local time), after President Biden called big tech firms, financial institutions, and key industry companies to the White House to urge enhanced cybersecurity, these companies responded by pledging to invest at least $30 billion (approximately 35 trillion won) in cybersecurity over the next five years.

At the meeting, President Biden emphasized cooperation, stating, "The reality is that the private sector owns and operates most of our critical infrastructure, and the federal government cannot face this challenge alone."

He added, "I believe you have the authority, capability, and responsibility to raise the standards of cybersecurity," and noted, "There is much work to be done."

President Biden also highlighted the need for cooperation between the government and private sectors to train security experts, noting that the U.S. cybersecurity industry currently faces a shortage of approximately 500,000 personnel.

The meeting took place amid a series of cyberattacks, including the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. pipeline company, and last year's SolarWinds hacking incident.

From the left, Tim Cook, Apple CEO, and Arvind Krishna, IBM CEO
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Attendees included Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, and IBM CEO Arvind Krishna.

Also present were Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Tom Fanning, CEO of energy company Southern Company.

From the government side, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House National Cyber Director Chris Inglis were in attendance.

Microsoft announced it will invest $20 billion (approximately 23 trillion won) over five years to strengthen cybersecurity, which foreign media reported is four times its current scale.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also stated plans to invest $150 million (approximately 175 billion won) to improve cybersecurity systems in government agencies.

Google likewise pledged to invest $10 billion (approximately 11.65 trillion won) over the next five years and to train about 100,000 experts in IT security and data analysis through its own career development programs.

IBM announced plans to train more than 150,000 cybersecurity professionals within three years and previewed the development of new data storage technologies to enhance cybersecurity for critical infrastructure companies.

Apple said it will implement policies to strengthen security across its supply chain and support partner companies in adopting multi-factor authentication security systems.

Amazon emphasized that it will provide multi-factor authentication security systems free of charge to customers using its cloud computing services.

On the 25th (local time), Jake Sullivan (second from the right), U.S. National Security Advisor at the White House, is attending a meeting with CEOs of private companies regarding cybersecurity enhancement held at the White House on the same day.
[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

President Biden has recently shifted the priority of U.S. foreign policy toward responding to cyberattacks, as ransomware and hacking incidents have repeatedly targeted federal government and key industry companies.

Recently, he signed an executive order mandating two-factor authentication for account logins for all U.S. government employees. In June, during his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he handed over a list of 16 critical infrastructure sectors and warned not to target them.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.