Cybersecurity Tech Accord begins year with continued global growth; reaches nearly 80 signatories

Binary House, EBRC, Entel, Eyeo, Globant, GREYCORTEX, Lirex, Northwave, Orange, Strong Connexions and VU Security have pledged to protect users and customers everywhere. This global expansion contributes to the increasingly diverse reach of the signatory community – further broadening the dialogue around cybersecurity with signatories from Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, the Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Slovakia, and the United States, expressing a commitment to a more secure cyberspace. This expansion continues to deepen the group’s expertise, adding to the variety of sectors and technologies that characterize the organization.

“Orange is fully engaged in making the internet safer and is happy to participate in the Cybersecurity Tech Accord,” said Orange’s Chief Information Security Officer, Arnaud Martin.

His sentiment was echoed by Fook Hwa Tan, Chief Quality Officer at Northwave. “By signing the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, we underline our mission to secure the digital journey of our clients. We believe that this cooperation is crucial in making our joined effort to ensure a safe global online environment more effective. That is why we will gladly share our knowledge and resources as part of this Accord.”

By joining the agreement, the signatories agree to four key commitments:

1. a stronger defense against cyberattacks – pledging to protect all customers globally regardless of the motivation for attacks online;
2. taking no offense by choosing not to 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;
3. doing more to empower developers and the people and businesses that use their technology, by helping them build and improve capacity for protecting themselves; and
4. building on existing relationships and taking collective action together to establish new formal and informal partnerships with industry, civil society and security researchers. The goal being to improve technical collaboration, coordinate vulnerability disclosures, share threats and minimize the potential for malicious code to be introduced into cyberspace.

“Strong Connexions strives to educate and empower those willing and able to make this world a safer place and looks to future generations and their capabilities in accomplishing this effort, which is why we have collectively agreed to support and join the Cybersecurity Tech Accord. No one individual or organization can overcome the overwhelming challenges we face in cybersecurity, it will take a team effort to overcome the threats we face by creating strategic partnerships in education, government, & the public spaces to make this happen,” said Jared Hoskins, Chief Operating Officer at Strong Connexions.

Since forming the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, the signatories have supported initiatives on email and routing security, implemented Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) in their own operations, participated in global requests for comments on the UN’s new High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, and endorsed the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace as an early supporter. Additionally, the group has coordinated with like-minded organizations such as the Global Cyber Alliance, the Internet Society, and the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE). As the group expands, we expect the pace of activity to continue and look forward to increased momentum throughout 2019. In the coming months the Cybersecurity Tech Accord will, among others:

• Continue hosting its webinar series, which kicked off the New Year with a review of best practices for assessing cyber vulnerabilities and/or cyber risk presented by Tenable on Monday, January 7 (replay available here). The next webinar discussing cyberattacks on infrastructure will take place on Monday, February 4 and will be presented by ESET.
• The Cybersecurity Tech Accord further contribute to the global multi-stakeholder dialogue in upcoming fora such as the World Economic Forum at Davos, where Brad Smith, President at Microsoft will opening remarks and Carlos Moreira, CEO and Founder of WISeKey, a Cybersecurity Tech Accord signatory, will moderate a panel discussion on the objectives behind the initiative. Other participants include Guy Diedrich, Vice President and Global Innovation Officer at Cisco Systems, and Sanja Poonen, Chief Operating Officer, Customer Operations at VMware. If interested in attending you can register here.

“Our human civilization is facing an unprecedented paradigm shift: a fast transition from an understandable physical world to a new unknown digital and virtual world: the cyberspace. The new digital ongoing revolution will generate huge new opportunities for the development of mankind but at the same time will generate new threats. Cyber-risks are increasing at an exponential rate.

Cyber-resilience should be one of the top priorities of organizations aiming to expand their activities in the Cyberspace. Cyber-resilience will become a sustainable competitive advantage for all enterprises. The Cybersecurity Tech Accord is for all of us, a cornerstone in building a sustainable and socially responsible Cyber-resilient world,” says Yves Reding, CEO, EBRC (European Business Reliance Centre).

More information on such activities will be released in coming weeks on The Cybersecurity Tech Accord website.