Tuesday's meeting, called by Estonia which heads the Council for the month of June and is a leader in the fight against hacking, is itself being held online, at a ministerial level
Under the collaboration, Ericsson and Leonardo will share research and development capabilities and competences spanning from cyber security to 5G networks, the two companies said.
The partnership will also address cyber security while threats are becoming more complex in particular for strategic critical infrastructures, they added.
"We are determined to protect America's networks and to meet the growing challenge posed by our adversaries in cyberspace - and this is the team to do it," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
Easterly and Inglis are experienced cybersecurity experts with decades of service in government. Both previously worked at the National Security Agency in senior positions.
But simultaneous discovery happens fairly often, in part because researchers use the same or similar tools to hunt for serious flaws, and many eyes are looking at the same high-value targets.