Cybersecurity, consumer protection subject of White House summit

Last week, Stanford University hosted the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection. The summit centered around cybersecurity information sharing and the efforts private industry is taking to better protect the data of their customers. The event brought together leaders from various industries, law enforcement, consumer and privacy advocates, academics, and students.

Lisa Monaco, homeland security and counterterrorism advisor to the President, opened the summit. Monaco, who recently announced the creation of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC), spoke of the growing importance of cybersecurity issues related to national and homeland security, including in the financial, energy, and technology sectors. Monaco also spoke about the continuing rise in cybersecurity breeches and attacks, the effort needed to meet a “constantly evolving enemy,” and the value of private sector cooperation with the government to address cyber threats.

The summit included several plenary panels, the first of which dealt with public-private collaboration on cybersecurity. Panelists included CEOs from consumer retail, banking, health care, and utility companies, and the panel was moderated by Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. In his remarks, Kenneth Chenault, Chairman and CEO of American Express, described the cyber threats faced by the U.S. as “increasingly challenging, increasingly complex” and went on to say that “information sharing may be the single, highest impact, lowest cost, and fastest way to implement capabilities we have at hand as a nation to accelerate our overall defense from the many varied and increasing threats that we are facing every second.”

President Obama made the keynote address, centering his remarks on confronting cyber threats and the future of cybersecurity. During his address, the President also introduced and signed an executive order encouraging the sharing of cybersecurity threat information within the private sector and between the private sector and government.

Later panels focused on consumer data protection, and featured panelists from various industries, including credit card companies and large businesses.

White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection.
Lisa Monaco’s Opening Remarks begin at 00:21:47.
Plenary Panel on Public-Private Cybersecurity Practices begins at 00:45:41.
President Obama’s Remarks/Signing of Executive Order begins at 03:03:55.

For more information about the Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, please follow the links below.
White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, White House (summit video)
The White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, White House