Arm Backs New Cybersecurity Tech Accord to Protect Consumers and Businesses

By Carolyn Herzog, General Counsel, Arm

April 17, 2018 -- In the next four years, economic losses from cyberattacks on businesses, organizations and individuals could total a staggering $8 trillion. Along this long trail of lost currency will be human stories–of people having their identities stolen, bank accounts emptied; and businesses losing revenue and suffering damage to their reputation.

At Arm, we believe in the enormous benefit that a more securely connected world will bring. In fact, our company has a long history of security innovation informed by the belief that effective security solutions require an expanding portfolio of secure IP, software and a collaborative ecosystem fortifying devices across a common platform.

To help drive security innovation forward, we have today become a founding member of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord. We are joining a list of more than 30 companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, Facebook and Oracle in what is the largest-ever cybersecurity pact.

Under the four-point accord, the signatories agree to do their utmost to defend customers everywhere from malicious cyberattacks by cybercriminal enterprises and nation states. It includes commitments in the following areas:

• Stronger defense. The companies pledge to protect all customers globally regardless of the motivation for attacks online.
• No offense. The companies will oppose cyberattacks on innocent citizens and enterprises from anywhere.
• Capacity building. The companies will do more to empower developers and the people and businesses using their technology, helping them improve their capacity for protecting themselves.
• Collective action. The companies will establish formal and informal partnerships with industry, civil society and security researchers to improve technical collaboration, coordinate vulnerability disclosures, share threats and minimize malicious code being introduced into cyberspace.

The first meeting of the signatories is set for the RSA Conference this week in San Francisco. For the current list of companies and to follow all information and published updates, visit www.cybertechaccord.org.

At Arm, as we have built a successful global business in semiconductor IP and software, security has long been a primary design consideration. This includes introducing leading solutions such as Trustzone and the Platform Security Architecture (PSA).

In October 2017, Arm’s Security Manifesto gave a more prominent voice to security innovation, exploring the nature of our industry’s responsibility as guardians of the Information Revolution and the Digital Social Contract for Security that Arm believes all technology providers must rally behind. These principles stand behind our engagement with the Cybersecurity Tech Accord.

All signatories to the Tech Accord are united in the belief that we must continually do more to stay ahead of the cybercriminals and other malicious actors. Just recently, government services in Atlanta were paralyzed by a ransomware attack. In 2017 the UK’s National Health Service, the world’s biggest healthcare provider, was targeted by a WannaCry cryptoworm attack. It led to 7,000 cancelled appointments and some hospitals being forced to disconnect from the internet.

Now, as we look forward to a trillion connected devices being deployed over the next 20 years, we must stand shoulder to shoulder in our commitment to protect cyberspace. Staying ahead of threats is a constant battle and the pledge the industry is making today in the Cybersecurity Tech Accord will continue to strengthen security and help to ensure the benefits of a data-driven world are fully-realized for all.

About Arm

Arm technology is at the heart of a computing and connectivity revolution that is transforming the way people live and businesses operate. Our advanced, energy-efficient processor designs are enabling the intelligence in more than 125 billion silicon chips and securely powering products from the sensor to the smartphone to the supercomputer. With more than 1,000 technology partners, including the world's largest consumer brands, we are driving Arm innovation into all areas compute is happening inside the chip, the network and the cloud.