When it comes to cyber security, everyone, including big companies, is vulnerable. After unprecedented cyber attacks in recent months, Joe Biden has chosen to bring together key leaders of American companies at the White House.
This Wednesday, the bosses of Google, Sundar Pichai, Amazon, Andy Josie, Apple, Tim Cook and Microsoft, Satya Nadella, but other large groups, banks, insurance and water services and electricity are due to meet with the US president in Washington.
Data thefts and ransomware attacks have actually increased in recent months, targeting various companies and organizations, including an American pipeline operator, a meat baking company, an Irish health service and an Indian airline.
The United States remembers the massive cyber-attack that struck its territory at the end of 2020 and affected Microsoft’s email servers, and above all compromised the American company Solarwinds’ Orion software, which employs large companies or administrations to manage and oversee computer networks. At the same time, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and Microsoft fell victim to massive data theft with millions of identities revealed on the Internet. So the year 2021 raises questions about the safety of 16 U.S. “core infrastructure” including energy, security, industrial production and food.
A plaque should not be noticed
In these key areas, cyber attackers can now reach businesses of all sizes and inflict severe digital damage with damage of tens of thousands or hundreds of millions of dollars. Some analysts have called for tougher sanctions against Russia and other countries accused of harboring hackers. Others propose to better control cryptocurrencies, which are used by hackers seeking ransomware to recover the service that blocked them.
“There will be definite announcements,” a senior White House official told a news conference Tuesday. He concluded that recent attacks “have created a sense of urgency and that both public and private companies should focus on this tragedy.”