Apple CEO Tim Cook to Speak at White House Cybersecurity Summit

According to event information obtained by The Hill, Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak at the White House cybersecurity summit.

The summit will take place on Friday at Stanford University, and the main topic will be: encryption.

Tim cook

The White House is expected to reveal its next executive action on cybersecurity at the summit, which will bring together tech executives, leading academics and government officials to discuss ways in which the government can better collaborate with the private sector on cybersecurity initiatives.

Customer privacy became a hot topic in the light of a US government program called PRISM, which revealed that the US National Security Agency could gain direct access to user data on corporate servers across multiple Internet companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, PalTalk, AOL and YouTube.

Apple reacted quickly, issuing a statement of “Commitment to Customer Privacy” denying participation in the aforementioned spying program. Additionally, it has teamed up with a number of companies asking for government surveillance to be reformed.

Regarding iOS 8, Apple says it does not have access to data stored on iPhones, so it cannot share data to law enforcement officials — a claim questioned by forensic researchers though.

The FBI has entered into discussion with tech companies — Apple included — regarding their new privacy features. In one instance an FBI official said that Apple’s inability to access data on the iPhone could cause the death of a child.

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