WISeKey Hosted its Second Cybersecurity Tech Accord Gathering in Davos

WISeKey Hosted its Second Cybersecurity Tech Accord Gathering in Davos

Participants shared their vision of twenty-first-century cybersecurity and discussed the need for industry leadership and responsibility in a new domain of conflict

Davos, Switzerland – January 22, 2020 – WISeKey International Holding Ltd (“WISeKey”) (SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY), a leading global cybersecurity and IoT company, hosted its second annual panel discussion for the Cybersecurity Tech Accord in Davos. This networking reception and panel discussion event focused on the role cybersecurity plays in ensuring trust in our digital economy, how technology can further improve the security of our online ecosystem, and the role it can play in achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with a special focus on promoting peace, justice, and strong institutions.  The event was part of WISeKey’s roundtable discussion series: “Deep Tech for a Sustainable Era.”

Similar to last year, the 2020 event was attended by over 500 business and political leaders, economists and senior officials from private and public organizations, who were in Davos for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.

Hosted by WISeKey, the Cybersecurity Tech Accord panel discussions focused on the accomplishments and objectives of the coalition for promoting greater security online.

Cybersecurity Tech Accord (https://cybertechaccord.org/) is a public commitment among more than 130 global technology companies to protect, empower and improve security, stability and resilience of cyberspace. Since its inception, Cybersecurity Tech Accord’s signatories have supported initiatives on improving 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. Additionally, the coalition has coordinated with like-minded organizations such as the Global Cyber Alliance, Internet Society, and Global Forum on Cyber Expertise.

The panel included: Renaud Deraison, Chief Technology Officer, Tenable; Amy Weaver, President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, General Counsel and Secretary Salesforce; Alissa Starzak, Head of Public Policy, Cloudflare; Tom Patterson, Chief Trust Officer, Unisys; Sanjay Poonen, Chief Operating Officer, VMWare; and moderator Carlos Moreira, Founder, CEO, WiseKey.  These industry leaders provided a high-level overview of the priority initiatives the Cybersecurity Tech Accord has pursued in its first two years of existence, their respective visions for the twenty-first-century cybersecurity and discussed the need for industry leadership and responsibility in a new domain of conflict.  Additionally, panel discussions focused on the intersection of cybersecurity, socioeconomic development and rights promotion around the world, in alignment with the UN’s sustainable development goals.

These discussions highlighted the importance of having regular industry inclusions, engagements, and partnerships in decision making as it relates to cybersecurity. The 2020 networking event is a continuation of the successful introduction of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord during the 2019 meeting in Davos, which focused on the importance of having common cybersecurity principles to improve online security.

Main points covered during the roundtable:

• Rapid growth: Cybersecurity Tech Accord signatories have grown 4-fold since the group’s launch in 2018. Today there are more than 130 signatory companies from 25 different countries, including 6 companies from Asia, 38 from Europe, 9 from Latin America, and 77 from North America – a truly global coalition.
• Critical workstreams – leading by example: Cybersecurity Tech Accord meets regularly to pursue discrete workstreams related to its four principles (https://cybertechaccord.org/about/), and to that end has advocated for policy positions, responded to requests for comment, provided government consultations, and much more. In particular, there are three prominent ongoing initiatives worth highlighting:
  • Apps 4 Digital Peace competition:  collaboration with the UN to seek innovative new solutions to promoting peace and stability in cyberspace from teams of young people from around the world.
  • Paris Call Commitments: in addition to supporting the agreement, taking a leadership role in fleshing-out and implementing its principles.
  • Vulnerability disclosure policy adoption:  The group has committed to having all signatories adopt vulnerability disclosure policies as a best practice, and call on governments to adopt vulnerability equities processes as a similar commitment to responsible behavior.
• Cybersecurity supports the UN’s SDGs:  Improvements in cybersecurity are essential to realizing the potential of technology and greater connectivity to improve lives around the world. This makes these efforts inherently tied to the UN’s SDGs, especially those focused on promoting Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – including online.
• Company positions and priorities: In their remarks, panelists had  the opportunity to highlight how their organizations implemented  the Cybersecurity Tech Accord principles to improve the security and stability of the online environment.
• Multi-stakeholder inclusion:  Cybersecurity Tech Accord provides a strong platform for multi-stakeholder inclusion in principle-based discussions about expectations for responsible behavior in cyberspace. Most recently, the Cybersecurity Tech Accord team was able to address these issues at the UN’s Open-Ended Working Group on Cybersecurity during its December Intersessional meeting in New York. These kinds of opportunities for engagement should continue.

About WISeKey

WISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY; SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey microprocessors secure the pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.).  WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.

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