Earlier this week, it was revealed that Apple CEO Tim Cook would be attending a meeting at the White House to discuss cybersecurity with U.S. President Joe Biden. Today, the White House has revealed exactly what the results of that meeting are.
In a press release, the White House announced that a number of private companies have announced new initiatives to help bolster cybersecurity capabilities across the different areas of industry that affect both the public and private sectors of the country.
Along with Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and a handful of other companies who announced new initiatives, Apple has announced that it will create a new cybersecurity program. With the new program, the company will work with its supply chain partners to “drive the mass adoption of multi-factor authentication, security training, vulnerability remediation, event logging, and incident response.”
Apple announced it will establish a new program to drive continuous security improvements throughout the technology supply chain. As part of that program, Apple will work with its suppliers — including more than 9,000 in the United States— to drive the mass adoption of multi-factor authentication, security training, vulnerability remediation, event logging, and incident response.
In addition to each individual company’s efforts, the administration also announced that cybersecurity initiatives by the government will expand to better secure gas pipelines and private technology supply chains.
The Biden Administration announced that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will collaborate with industry and other partners to develop a new framework to improve the security and integrity of the technology supply chain. The approach will serve as a guideline to public and private entities on how to build secure technology and assess the security of technology, including open source software. Microsoft, Google, IBM, Travelers, and Coalition committed to participating in this NIST-led initiative.
The Biden Administration also announced the formal expansion of the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative to a second major sector: natural gas pipelines. The Initiative has already improved the cybersecurity of more than 150 electric utilities that serve 90 million Americans.
Apple plans to release a number of new privacy features with its new software releases in the fall, including iCloud Private Relay, which helps you browse Safari with a little more security.