Companies across every layer of internet communication vow to defend against misuse of their technology and promise to protect their customers as part of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord announced at RSA.

This agreement represents a public shared commitment of 34 global technology and security companies to collaborate on cybersecurity efforts. The companies agreed to defend all customers everywhere from malicious attacks by cybercriminal enterprises and nation-states. The 34 companies include ABB, Arm, Cisco, Facebook, HP, HPE, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, and Trend Micro, and together represent operators of technologies that power the world's internet communication and information infrastructure.

"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 companies pledged to protect all customers globally regardless of the motivation for attacks online. They also agreed not to help governments launch cyberattacks and to protect against tampering or exploitation of their products and services through every stage of technology development, design and distribution.

The companies also commited to do more to empower developers and the people and businesses that use their technology, helping them improve their capacity for protecting themselves. This may include joint work on new security practices and new features the companies can deploy in their individual products and services.

The companies will establish new formal and informal partnerships with industry, civil society and security researchers to improve technical collaboration, coordinate vulnerability disclosures, share threats and minimize the potential for malicious code to be introduced into cyberspace.

Companies that signed the accord plan to hold their first meeting during the security-focused RSA Conference taking place in San Francisco, and will focus on capacity building and collective action.