Following a meeting between President Joe Biden and the top executives of the country's largest tech companies, the White House announced that the companies, including Apple
"Recent high-profile cybersecurity incidents demonstrate that both U.S. public and private sector entities increasingly face sophisticated malicious cyber activity," the White House wrote in a statement. "Cybersecurity is a national security and economic security imperative for the Biden Administration and we are prioritizing and elevating cybersecurity like never before."
Wednesday's meeting came after a series of major cyber attacks in the U.S., including the massive cyber attacks on the Colonial Pipeline and JBS meat processing company. The meeting's commitments are just one part of the Administration's efforts to combat cyber attacks so far this year. In May, Biden signed an executive order overhauling the federal government's cybersecurity. In late July, the Administration issued a memorandum setting out cybersecurity goals for "owners and operators of critical infrastructure".
"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," President Biden said during the meeting. "I've invited you all here today because you have the power, the capacity and the responsibility, I believe, to raise the bar on cybersecurity."
The meeting resulted in investment commitments from several major tech companies.
Over the next five years, Microsoft has committed to investing $20 billion to "accelerate efforts to integrate cyber security by design and deliver advanced security solutions." The company is also immediately putting in $150 million worth of "technical services" to help governments improve their security.
Google announced that it will be investing $10 billion to "expand zero-trust programs, help secure the software supply chain, and enhance open-source security" over the next five years. The company also plans on helping 100,000 Americans gain recognized certifications of digital skills.
IBM said that it will be partnering with 20 historically black colleges in order to help 150,000 gain cybersecurity skills over the next three years.
Apple, on the other hand, has committed to working with its more than 9,000 suppliers to help them improve their cybersecurity as a part of its efforts to strengthen supply chains in the technology sector.
Amazon has announced that it will allow public access to the "security awareness training it offers its employees", free of charge. It also committed to improving the protections available to all Amazon Web Services accounts.
Other companies that pledged to invest in improving cybersecurity include cyber insurance providers Resilience and Coalition.
The announcement also included commitments from the Administration itself, including an expansion of the Industrial Control Cybersecurity Initiative to cover the improvement of the cybersecurity protecting natural gas pipelines.
Education officials with the University of Texas System and Whatcom Community College also announced plans to expand and develop cybersecurity programs and curriculum.
