Intel’s Steve Grobman: Next Administration Should Form Cyber Partnership With Private Industry

Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at Intel’s security group, has said President-elect Donald Trump’s administration should forge a partnership with the private sector when it comes to cybersecurity since private companies operate approximately “three-quarters” of the digital infrastructure.

Grobman told CNBC in an interview aired Wednesday that there is a need for a comprehensive plan that will work to “look across all industries” because a cyber attack on the power grid and other critical infrastructure “could be detrimental.”

He noted that Intel’s security group has conducted some case studies and found that 59 percent of information technology professionals said they have seen attacks that cause physical damage to critical infrastructure.

“The field of cybersecurity is highly complex and having an individual that can focus on all of the new ones working with other government agencies, working with the private sector, but then translating that into a language that the federal government can understand and act on at the most senior levels is key to our success,” Grobman said when he was asked about President Barack Obama’s move to appoint a cybersecurity official.