Apple Plans to Develop Program to Improve Supply Chain Security

Apple CEO Tim Cook this morning attended a cybersecurity meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and executives from other tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.

Following the summit, the White House said that the companies in attendance pledged their help to bolster U.S. cybersecurity efforts, with Apple planning to develop a program to make security improvements across its technology supply chain (via Bloomberg and CNBC).

Apple will work with suppliers to adopt multi-factor authentication, security training, and incident response in an effort to improve security.

Google plans to invest $10 billion over five years to strengthen cybersecurity, and it plans to train 100,000 Americans in technical fields through its Career Certificate Program. Microsoft pledged $20 billion over five years to provide more advanced security tools and will invest $150 million to help government agencies upgrade their security systems.

IBM plans to train more than 150,000 people in cybersecurity skills across three years, and it announced a new data storage solution for critical infrastructure companies. Amazon Web Services plans to give account holders free multi-factor authentication devices to improve security, and it will also offer Security Awareness Training.

During the meeting, President Joe Biden asked tech executives to help improve cybersecurity for critical infrastructure and economy, urging them to train up a larger cybersecurity workforce and to provide improvements to cybersecurity in their sectors.