Microsoft, Nokia, Facebook, and other tech companies sign Cybersecurity Tech Accord

Cybersecurity is a growing concern these days with the recent rise in ransomware attacks and other sophisticated forms of viruses. To combat this emerging threat, 34 technology and security companies have banded together to sign the Cybersecurity Tech Accord.

Together, these companies have vowed to protect all customers around the globe against attacks by "cybercriminal enterprises" and other state-sponsored components. The 34 signatories of the accord include some big-name firms such as Microsoft, Nokia, Facebook, Dell, and HP. The full list can be viewed below:

ABB
ARM
Avast!
Bitdefender
BT
CA Technologies
Cisco
Cloudflare
DataStax
Dell
DocuSign
Facebook
Fastly
FireEye
F-Secure
GitHub
Guardtime
HP Inc.
HPE
Intuit
Juniper Networks
LinkedIn
Microsoft
Nielsen
Nokia
Oracle
RSA
SAP
Strupe
Symantec
Telefonica
Tenable
Trend Micro
VMware

The firms have made commitments in four major areas, summarized below:

Stronger defense system for every customer.
Refusal to help governments in launching cyberattacks, and protecting their products against tampering and exploitation.
Help developers, people, and businesses to easily use protective technologies and jointly develop and deploy them.
Develop relationships with researchers to enhance technical collaboration, and improve management of vulnerability disclosures.

Microsoft President Brad Smith says that:

"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.This tech sector accord will help us take a principled path towards more effective steps to work together and defend customers around the world."

It is important to note that many companies already follow some of the principles of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, but this formal agreement acts as a shared public commitment and also opens the accord to new signatories with high standards of security.

The first meeting of these 34 companies will be held during the ongoing RSA Conference, where they will further discuss strategies to strengthen partnerships and develop protective technologies.