Groups to push for encryption, secure payments at White House cyber summit

The White House heads west to Silicon Valley on Friday looking for ideas on how to improve the nations cybersecurity, and members of President Barack Obamas administration are likely to get an earful.

The White Houses first-of-its-kind cybersecurity summit at Stanford University will feature remarks from Obama and from Apple CEO Tim Cook, but participants are likely to hear a range of ideas about how to improve cybersecurity at U.S. businesses.

Scheduled panel discussions will focus on improving cybersecurity practices at consumer-facing businesses, on using cybersecurity as a business advantage, and on promoting secure payments.

The use of encryption could be a sticking point during discussions. Obama administration members have voiced concerns in recent months about Apple and Google adding encryption functionality to smartphones running their operating systems. Officials at the FBI and Department of Justice say a larger number of encrypted smartphones will allow criminals to hide their activities from police.

Its unlikely that the Obama administration will push for encryption workarounds at the summit, said Kevin Bankston, policydirector at theNew America Foundations OpenTechnology Institute digital rights group. Instead, Bankston said he expects Obama to promote encryption.

We do hope he will use it as an opportunity to reaffirm the White Houses recognition of encryption technology as a cornerstone of the modern Internet economy and a critical tool for the protection of privacy and cybersecurity, Bankston said.

Other cybersecurity experts and summit participants hope a variety of security tools will be highlighted there.

Participants need to focus on how to improve the sharing of cyberthreat information between businesses and government agencies, said Phil Smith, senior vice president of government solutions and special investigations at cybersecurity vendor Trustwave.

Some U.S. lawmakers and tech trade groups have pushed Congress for years to pass legislation that would protect from customer lawsuits businesses that share this data. But privacy groups have objected to past bills like the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act [CISPA], saying it would allow businesses to share too much personal information with the government.

Sharing cyberthreat information between law enforcement, government agencies and the private sector is imperative to protecting the citizens of our country against the latest cyberthreats and I hope the summit will focus on that message, Smith said by email.

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Groups to push for encryption, secure payments at White House cyber summit