If you have been watching the news recently, or have been following some key influencers within the tech space, you might have heard about a meeting that happened last week. The President of the United States met with private sector and education leaders regarding initiatives to bolster the nations cybersecurity. Among the companies represented in this meeting were Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, and IBM amongst other smaller names like University of Texas System.
According to the press release from the White House, there is a need to improve the infrastructure behind the nations endpoints and make sure that increasingly technological cybersecurity incidents are protected against and deterred from:
“Today, President Biden met with private sector and education leaders to discuss the whole-of-nation effort needed to address cybersecurity threats. Recent high-profile cybersecurity incidents demonstrate that both U.S. public and private sector entities increasingly face sophisticated malicious cyber activity. Cybersecurity threats and incidents affect businesses of all sizes, small towns and cities in every corner of the country, and the pocketbooks of middle-class families. Compounding the challenge, nearly half a million public and private cybersecurity jobs remain unfilled” (Source).
One of the biggest developments from this meeting is the partnership between the National Institute of Technology and private industry partners to develop an improved security and integration framework.
Each company announced its partnership with the White House as well as its part in the initiative to improve stateside Cybersecurity, which by circumstance, ends up impacting the rest of the world.
The key takeaways from each of these companies regarding their efforts follow:
Apple will establish a program to drive security and technology improvements throughout their supply chain, Google will invest $10 Billion in the next 5 years to expand Zero-Trust programs, IBM will train 150,000 people in cybersecurity over the next 3 years, and Amazon will make its security awareness training available to the public at no cost.
As a Microsoft Partner, and a Solutions Provider who is all in on Microsoft (and for good reason), I wanted to single out Microsoft not only because of the sheer amount of investment, but also because Microsoft has been investing and creating this type of technology long before it was relevant.
Microsoft will invest $20 Billion over the next 5 years to accelerate efforts to integrate cyber security by designing and delivering advanced security solutions. Additionally, a $150 million investment will go to help federal, state, and local governments with upgrading security protection.
I have written about several different topics of Microsoft’s security platforms and goals which can be found in my Zero Trust blog, IP Theft blog, and the several I have written about PhishPrevent; Finchloom’s proprietary managed security solution built utilizing Microsoft tools, and integrated right into programs like Outlook.
Microsoft’s investment into cybersecurity alone trumps the total value of over 95% of businesses in the United States. From Azure to Xbox, and Excel to Teams, Microsoft is responsible for millions, if not billions of endpoints across the world. Without the stringent security measures that they have in place, hacking, malware, and theft would be a huge issue for all their end users, but luckily, Microsoft is, and has been way ahead of the curve for years. With continuous innovation, and sales to back it up, Microsoft promises to be a leader in security innovation for years to come, and their customers know this. It was no surprise to me when I saw the increase in year over year earnings reported last quarter.
You know your business, we know Microsoft. Finchloom can help you move your business to the cloud, migrate emails for mergers and acquisitions, provide professional services for short- and long-term projects, and so much more. If you are curious about the entire suite of services and products that we offer, please visit our Home Page. As always, thank you for reading; I am looking forward to seeing what comes from Microsoft’s huge investment into cybersecurity for years to come.