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Preparations are well underway for a Feb. 13 White House summit on cybersecurity that will be preceded by a half-day workshop presented jointly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Stanford University.

The president's Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection is being hosted by the university. It will include senior leaders from the White House and across federal government; CEOs from the financial services, technology, retail and communications industries; law enforcement officials; and consumer advocates. Stanford faculty and students researching cybersecurity issues will also take part.

The Feb. 13 president's summit will look at the following:

• increasing public-private partnerships and cybersecurity information sharing;
• creating and promoting improved cybersecurity practices and technologies; and
• improving adoption and use of more secure payment technologies.

President Obama has made cyber and data security a key focus of his agenda, as detailed in his Jan. 20 State of the Union address. During an October CFPB event attended by NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger, the president called for broader use of chip-and-PIN technology and data security legislation focusing on breach notification.

NAFCU is staying close to legislative developments on data security with an eye toward winning national data security standards for merchants and early breach notification.

The Feb. 12 workshop with NIST is aimed at creating understanding of real-world cybersecurity challenges for consumer-facing organizations, practical approaches to improving cybersecurity and collaboration among stakeholders. Goals are to prioritize key challenges for business; identify gaps in the adoption and use of cybersecurity standards, technologies and best practices; and generate input to prioritization of NIST's cybersecurity activities.