SAN FRANCISCO—A number of the world's biggest technology companies have signed an agreement to help defend users from online attacks.
Among the companies pledging their support are Microsoft, Symantec, Facebook, SAP, HP Inc., Nokia and Oracle. Called the “Cybersecurity Tech Accord,” this agreement promises stronger defenses, capacity building and collective action, IT ProPortal said.
“Collective action, for example, means companies will “establish new formal and informal partnerships with industry, civil society and security researchers” to boost technical collaboration, improve how everyone shares information on vulnerabilities and threats, and to make introducing malicious code into cyberspace a more difficult endeavor,” IT ProPortal said.
The agreement also promises to “oppose efforts to misuse, tamper with, or exploit our products and services and won’t help anyone use them to launch cyberattacks against our customers and users”.
“The devastating attacks from the past year demonstrate that cybersecurity is not just about what any single company can do but also about what we can all do together,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith. “This tech sector accord will help us take a principled path towards more effective steps to work together and defend customers around the world.”
The signatories met for the first time during the recent RSA Conference in San Francisco, where they discussed capacity building and collective action, IT ProPortal said.