White House Brainstorming Session for Increasing Cybersecurity

More than two dozen leaders of key groups across a variety of fields met at the White House last week to address escalating cyber threats.

This included:

• CEOs of major tech companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, IBM, and Microsoft
• Heads of major financial institutions such as Bank of America and JPMorgan
• Several energy and water companies will also be included, including the leaders of Duke Energy, PG&E, and Southern Company
• The leaders of Travelers and the University of Texas system
• Officials from Duke Energy, Pacific Gas, and Electric, and Southern Company 

The gathering focused on improving information sharing between government agencies, developing new tools to protect critical infrastructure systems, and creating incentives for businesses to adopt better security practices.

While it was originally stressed that there was no specific agenda or list of recommendations coming out of the event and billed as an opportunity for attendees to brainstorm ideas, what came out was much more than originally expected: The White House, big tech firms, cyber insurers, and educational organizations pledged to pour more resources into improving the nation’s cybersecurity.

A variety of near-term funds and initiatives aimed at improving software supply chain security, expanding the cybersecurity workforce, and improving the cyber hygiene of organizations and the general public were promised by public and private partners. Meeting attendees also promised both free tools and incentives to help individuals and organizations increase their security posture.

President Biden has been vocal about his concerns regarding growing cyberthreats since he took office. He warned during his first speech as president. He called it a “cybersecurity emergency” and pledged to work closely with Congress to develop solutions.

To prevent future breaches we can’t afford not to act. Brainstorming sessions are great, but security leaders need to think outside of the box and not rely on the same old same old.

The threat landscape is constantly evolving, but are cybersecurity leaders evolving their approach just as fast?

In previous blogs, I’ve stressed that an optimized threat response requires informed courses of action that can often be acquired through threat intelligence sharing with industry peers. It is clear that secure collaboration is one of the keys to improving the nation’s as well as individual organization’s cybersecurity defenses. Anomali continues to increase our support for sharing intelligence, providing tools such as Anomali STAXX, a free solution offered that supports sharing indicators through STIX and TAXII. 

Organizations have long sought to bridge security gaps between technologies and people within their organization. Most enterprises have dozens of cybersecurity tools deployed and access to mass volumes of related information, but they continue to work in silos. 

By breaking barriers between security information silos and functions, organizations can unify key processes and close significant gaps between detection and response capabilities.

But this type of cross-functional collaboration isn’t always easy. It requires trust, transparency, and a shared understanding of business objectives.

This way of thinking can also be applied more broadly across the industry. 

Coming together in brainstorming sessions such as this and pledging resources is a step in the right direction.

To learn more about the benefits of sharing threat intelligence, download our whitepaper: The Definitive Guide to Sharing Threat Intelligence

Learn more about STIX/TAXII.

Learn more about threat intelligence sharing.