Tech giants make multibillion dollar commitments to cyber security - New head of ICO will oversee a “shake-up” of data protection rules post-Brexit

31st August

Tech Giants Back Biden’s Action Plan

Multibillion dollar commitments have been made by US tech giants to enhance the United States cyber security posture following several high-profile attacks on US infrastructure in recent months. Here are some statistics regarding pledges that have been made by some of these tech giants.

  • $20 billion pledged by Microsoft to be spent on security measures over the next five years – four times its current investment. Will also provide $150 million in technical services to national and local governments.

  • $10 billion by Google for cyber security training over the next five years. Will also train 100,000 Americans in related fields.

  • IBM will train 150,000 workers in cyber security over the next three years – working closely with historically black colleges and universities to increase diversity and inclusion.

  • Amazon has said it will make the internal employee security awareness training materials available to the public free of charge and will also provide AWS customers with free MFA devices to protect themselves.

  • Apple will set up a programme which will drive continuous security improvements within the tech supply chain by working with its suppliers (9,000 in the US) to drive the mass adoption of MFA, cyber awareness training, vulnerability remediation, and SIEM.

The White House said that the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will now be directed to collaborate with industry and other partners on a new framework to shore up the technology supply chain, serving as a guideline to public and private sector bodies on how to build secure tech stacks and assess the security of new technology.

Microsoft pledge $20 billion to be spent on security measures over the next five years – four times its current investment
Computer Weekly

Data Protection Shake-Up

John Edwards, the current New Zealand privacy commissioner, has been named as the new head of the data regulator the ICO. He will oversee what is being called a “shake-up” of data protection rules post-Brexit.

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said that some of the shake-up plans involve getting rid of the “endless cookie pop-ups” which ask for users’ permission to store personal information that is seen on most websites. New data adequacy partnerships will mean that people’s personal information can be sent internationally to countries such as the US, Korea, Singapore, Dubai, and others. Data adequacy means an agreement that the protections in place are similar in two countries. Other details are yet to be announced, so watch this space.

Data protection 'shake-up' takes aim at cookie pop-ups
BBC news
Data protection
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