Microsoft, Facebook and 32 other technology firms joined the Cybersecurity Tech Accord – a public commitment among 34 global companies to protect and empower civilians online and to improve the security, stability and resilience of cyberspace. CompuData Client vCIO Andrew Rosado views the Cybersecurity Tech Accord as a big step in the right direction – here’s why!
On Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 34 global technology and security companies signed a Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a watershed agreement among the largest-ever group of companies agreeing to defend all customers everywhere from malicious attacks by cybercriminal enterprises and nation-states. The 34 companies include ABB, Arm, Cisco, Facebook, HP, HPE, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, and Trend Micro, and together represent operators of technologies that power the world’s internet communication and information infrastructure.
The companies made commitments in four areas.
- Stronger Defense: The companies will mount a stronger defense against cyberattacks. As part of this, recognizing that everyone deserves protection, the companies pledged to protect all customers globally regardless of the motivation for attacks online.
- No Offense: The companies will not help governments launch cyberattacks against innocent citizens and enterprises, and will protect against tampering or exploitation of their products and services through every stage of technology development, design and distribution.
- Capacity Building: The companies will do more to empower developers and the people and businesses that use their technology, helping them improve their capacity for protecting themselves. This may include joint work on new security practices and new features the companies can deploy in their individual products and services.
- Collective Action: The companies will build on existing relationships and together establish new formal and informal partnerships with industry, civil society and security researchers to improve technical collaboration, coordinate vulnerability disclosures, share threats and minimize the potential for malicious code to be introduced into cyberspace.
The companies may have adhered to some or all of these principles prior to the accord, or may have adhered without a public commitment.
This agreement represents a public shared commitment to collaborate on cybersecurity efforts. The Tech Accord remains open to consideration of new private sector signatories, large or small and regardless of sector, who are trusted, have high cybersecurity standards and will adhere unreservedly to the Tech Accord’s principles.
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Is it about time we see this collaborative cybersecurity commitment?
“Absolutely, it’s a step in the right direction, especially as many of the companies currently participating in the Cybersecurity Tech Accord control a large amount of our data and/or provide a medium for how our data is transmitted,” CompuData’s Client vCIO Andrew Rosado shares. “The idea of getting industry leaders together to build a stronger security front is terrific – we need these leading tech minds to join forces, as what we are talking about in terms of cybersecurity here is not simply a personal data security issue, but a national security issue as well.”
The victims of cyber attacks are businesses and organizations of all sizes, with economic losses expected to reach $8 trillion by 2022.* Recent cyber attacks have caused small businesses to shutter their doors, hospitals to delay surgeries and governments to halt services, among other disruptions and safety risks.
“There is a line that we have been treading for a few years now that separates government regulation and the tech industry, according to Rosado. “Some say that there needs to be some regulation on how data is treated (we have been seeing that lately with the Cambridge Analytical/Facebook issue) and that regulation should be enforced by the government. On the other side of the argument, some feel that too much government regulation will disrupt the tech industry and the thriving organism it is today – I think there exists a happy middle ground as tech leaders come together to help not only their own interests, but the interests of their collective users, literally millions upon millions upon millions of businesses and individuals.”
For more information on the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, click here.
* Losses are cumulative over five year, 2017 – 2022. Juniper Research: The Future of Cybercrime & Security: Enterprise Threats & Mitigation 2017-2022 https://cybertechaccord.org