onShore Security Endorses Plans to Curb Proliferation of Cyber Mercenaries
Five Principles Serve as Call to Action and Set Standard for Responsible Industry Practice
CHICAGO, April 18, 2023 (Newswire.com) - onShore Security, a leading cybersecurity provider, today endorsed a set of principles recently put forth by the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a coalition of more than 150 private sector cybersecurity companies such as Microsoft and Mandiant, to guide the technology industry as it works to help curb the dangerous growth of "cyber mercenaries." This term refers to a wide range of companies that develop and sell offensive cyber capabilities and services, mainly to government customers. The principles may be found online at cybertechaccord.org.
"People in the cybersecurity industry know that the ability to identify and control bad actors in the realm of cybersecurity is paramount to maintaining a safe and secure environment online," said Stel Valavanis, CEO of onShore Security. "As a proud member of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, onShore supports the coalition's efforts to influence government and industry policy in ways that benefit not only our clients but everyone who works, shops and socializes on the web."
The principles developed by the Cybersecurity Tech Accord build on the group's founding commitments to strong defense, no offense, capacity building, and collective action. The five principles challenge companies to:
- Take steps to counter cyber mercenaries' use of products and services to harm people;
- Identify ways to actively counter the cyber mercenary market;
- Invest in cybersecurity awareness of customers, users and the general public;
- Protect customers and users by maintaining the integrity and security of products and services;
- Develop processes for handling valid legal requests for information.
onShore joins with the other members of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord in its hope that these principles will set a standard for responsible industry practice, as well as serve as a call to action to stakeholder groups.
"Cyber mercenary firms that build tools to exploit peaceful technology to harm users have become a scourge," said John Hering, senior manager for Digital Diplomacy at Microsoft and spokesperson for the Cybersecurity Tech Accord. "I am proud of the work the Cybersecurity Tech Accord has done to draw greater attention to this growing issue and the different ways responsible technology companies are working to curb this growing mercenary market."
"While the cybersecurity industry should do what it can to address this challenge, it's ultimately up to governments to take the lead," Valavanis added. "We applaud the recent executive order banning the use by government agencies of spyware that may pose a national security risk, and call on legislators to enact further policies to limit the use of cyber mercenaries here and abroad."
On March 27, President Biden signed an executive order banning the use by the U.S. government of commercial spyware that "poses significant counterintelligence or security risks to the United States Government or significant risks of improper use by a foreign government or foreign person." This applies to any commercial spyware that has been used by foreign states to spy on, track or monitor U.S. or foreign citizens, activists, dissidents, journalists and others in order to abuse human rights or suppress civil liberties.
About onShore Security
Founded in 1991, onShore Security is a leading provider of managed cybersecurity services nationwide, providing 24/7 real-time monitoring, correlation, and analysis of organization-wide, full-telemetry network data. onShore Security offerings fall into three groups: Panoptic Cyberdefense® SOC, Managed Security Solutions, and Cybersecurity Leadership. They collect an extensive range of telemetry, including logs from your systems, IDS on your site, cloud-placed sensors, netflow collectors, firewalls, network devices including encrypted payloads, and correlate this data to achieve an end-to-end security view. For more news and information on onShore, please visit www.onshore.com.
About the Cybersecurity Tech Accord
In April 2018, 34 global technology and security companies signed the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a watershed agreement and public commitment to protect and empower civilians online. Since then, this initiative has become the largest industry-led effort of its kind, with over 150 signatory companies across the world pledging to improve the security, stability, and resilience of cyberspace. To learn more about the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, visit cybertechaccord.org.
Source: onShore Security
