Tech giants reportedly meet to talk cyber security ahead of elections

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Representatives from the biggest tech companies reportedly met Friday to share cybersecurity information ahead of the midterm elections. Buzzfeed broke the story.

A Twitter Spokesperson told ABC7 News, "We have nothing to share at this stage."

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Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Snapchat were reportedly invited.

"Impromptu, secret, public, doesn't matter, It matters that we're talking, it matters that we're coordinating, it matters that we're all trying to stop this stuff from happening," said Mike Murray, Vice President of Security Intelligence at Lookout, a cyber security company in San Francisco.

"No one smart person is going to solve this we need a lot of smart people to get together to solve these problems," said Murray.

Buzzfeed reports Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy sent out the meeting invite which outlined a 3 part agenda; each company would present the work they've been doing to counter information operations; discuss problems each company is facing; and talk about whether this kind of meeting should become a regular occurrence.

Murray says sharing is key.

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"We want to be secretive, but often it's the ability to share that information quickly and effectively that makes it easier for everyone to stop these attacks from spreading," said Murray.

He says tech companies have become more proactive since the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"I don't think anyone saw what happened in 2016 coming in the way that it happened, If we had we would have stopped it," said Murray.

Murray says it's not just industry leaders, but that the government needs to also coordinate with tech giants so that they can move as quickly as the attackers do.

Buzzfeed reports a similar industry conversation was held at Facebook in May. ABC7 News reached out to Facebook Friday, but did not hear back.

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