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It
comes as Congress weighs new legislation concerning data breach
notification laws and cybersecurity insurance industry
regulation, historically viewed as two of the most consequential
policy areas within the field.
The guest list includes Amazon.com Inc CEO Andy Jassy, Apple Inc
CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft Corp CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO
Sundar Pichai and IBM Chief Executive Arvind Krishna, according
to two people familiar with the event.
Another said the topics of discussion will include ransomware,
critical infrastructure, supply chain security, cybersecurity
education and data breach insurance policy.
Executives for energy utility firm Southern Co and financial
giant JPMorgan Chase & Co are also expected to attend the event,
Bloomberg previously reported.
One of the people familiar with the event said the participating
companies are expected to make public commitments toward better
IT security measures and for additional workforce training.
The event will feature top cybersecurity officials from the
Biden administration, including recently confirmed National
Cybersecurity Director Chris Inglis, as well as Secretary of
Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, to lead different
conversations with industry representatives.
While the White House has continuously engaged the private
sector for months over potential new cybersecurity rules,
Wednesday's planned event is unique in its inclusion of the
insurance industry, according to three people familiar with the
event.
The CEO of property and casualty insurer Travelers Companies
Inc, Alan Schnitzer, will attend, they said.
Insurance companies play an important part in covering damages
associated with data breaches. Experts contend that influencing
the insurance market's policies around cyberattacks could bring
widespread improvements to cyber defense systems throughout
private industry.
"The increased use of cyber insurance over the last 10 years has
been an unfortunate stimulant to ransomware gangs - it has
encouraged more attacks as insured victims are often quite
willing to rapidly pull the trigger on ransom payments knowing
that they will be reimbursed by insurance," said Dmitri
Alperovitch, chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator.
Ransomware functions by locking up an infected computer system,
typically disrupting services to workers or customers, until an
extortion is paid to the hackers.
(Reporting by Christopher Bing in Washington; Editing by Matthew
Lewis and Dan Grebler)
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