Cisco and Microsoft are amongst a group of 34 global technology companies that have backed a Cybersecurity Tech Accord which pledges to protect all of their customers against cyber-attacks and misuse of their technology.
Whilst the Cybersecurity Tech Accord is an industry agreement with no legal standing, the group certainly has a major influence on the technologies that power the world’s internet communication and information infrastructure. Representatives include not only Microsoft and Cisco, but also leading companies such as Arm Holdings, BT, Dell, Facebook, GitHub, HP, Nokia, Oracle, Juniper Networks, RSA, SAP, Symantec, Trend Micro and VMware.
The agreement initially focuses upon four specific areas, these being:
- A commitment to stronger defences against cyber-attacks that will protect all customers globally ‘regardless of the motivation for attacks online’.
- A promise not to help governments launch cyberattacks against innocent citizens and enterprises, whilst also protecting against tampering or exploitation of their products and services through every stage of technology development, design and distribution.
- Greater collaboration with developers and businesses in order to help them improve their capacity for protecting themselves. In particular this is likely to include joint work on new security practices and new features the companies can deploy in their individual products and services.
- And finally greater collective action, particularly in terms of establishing formal and informal partnerships with industry and security researchers, with a view to improving technical collaboration, coordinating vulnerability disclosures, sharing threats and minimising the potential for malicious code to be introduced into cyberspace.
Looking forward, the group has also indicated that future actions may include jointly developed guidelines or broadly deployed features, as well as information sharing and partnering to combat specific threats.
Carolyn Herzog of Arm said that the group will help to “…align the resources, expertise and thinking of some of the world’s most important technology companies to help to build a trusted foundation for technology users who will benefit immensely from a more security connected world.”
Melanie Jones
Cisco Business Development Manager
Take a look at the current cybersecurity training courses available
The post Cisco and Microsoft amongst technology giants to sign cybersecurity pledge appeared first on Global Knowledge UK Blog.
