Microsoft calls for public-private collaboration to improve cybersecurity

Microsoft says public-private collaboration and information sharing are key to promoting cybersecurity.

Flynn Goodwin, general manager and associate general counsel, Microsoft’s Digital Security Unit, said this at a 3-week cybersecurity virtual reporting on Tuesday.

Goodwin said there is the need to keep watch on the most aggressively developing nation-state attack activity so that there can be a creative way to prevent those types of attacks at scale.

She said public-private cooperation was necessary, particularly in incident response, adding that it is essential to partner with governments to understand how issues were most effectively impacting.

“The ability to exchange information is key. And so, I am confident that with examples like the cyber collaboration centre, which is a terrific way under stress to be able to move faster with experts when we need to respond,” she said.

“We are going to continue to evolve the public-private partnership because we believe that the role of the private sector is essential to improving cybersecurity.

“Not only the technology that we are creating now which helps us spot nation-state attacks and stop them at scale globally, but we need to continue to watch those who are most aggressively pursuing nations.”

Goodwin added that the company is majorly focused on cloud-based cyber attacks by having the ability to see when nation states, cyber mercenaries or criminals attack customers through the cloud technologies.

“Our work is largely focused on cloud-based cyber-attacks,” Goodwin added.

“We have the ability to see when nation states or cyber mercenaries or criminals are attacking customers through the cloud technologies.”