Nandita Bhose

(Reuters) – On Thursday, the White House will host executives from top tech companies such as Alphabet’s Google (NASDAQ;), Apple Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ 🙂 to talk about software security following several cyberattacks in America last year.

The White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wrote to tech executives in December following the discovery of a security flaw in Log4j open-source software. Organizations around the globe use Log4j to log their data.

Sullivan wrote that the open-source software was widely used and maintained in part by volunteers. This is a concern for national security.

Thursday’s meeting, which will be hosted by deputy national security advisor for cyber & emerging technology, Anne Neuberger, will discuss concerns around the security of open-source software and how it can be improved, the White House said in a statement.

Additional top technology companies will be present at the meeting, including IBM (NYSE:), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:), Meta Platforms Inc, which is the owner of Facebook (NASDAQ) Oracle Corp (NYSE:). There will also be representatives from the Commerce Department, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security.

Following several large cyberattacks in the last year that exposed thousands of records from companies and government agencies, Cybersecurity was a high priority for Biden’s administration.

According to the U.S., one hack carried out by Russia on software manufactured by SolarWinds gave hackers access and allowed them to gain access and control over thousands of government agencies and companies that use its products. They gained access emails from the U.S. Treasury and Justice and Commerce Departments, as well other agencies.

An executive order was issued by the Administration last year to create a review panel and establish new standards of software in government agencies due to increasing incidence and consequences of attacks like these.