US seeking to bolster UN cybercrime treaty amid continued opposition

The U.S. has joined ongoing efforts to ensure human rights protections under the United Nations cybercrime treaty draft, which is under final negotiations until Aug. 9, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

While the draft could bolster global anti-cybercrime coordination, additional work is being done to guarantee that it would not be leveraged to suppress human rights, noted a statement from the Freedom Online Coalition, which includes the U.S. State Department as one of its signatories.

Such a declaration was followed by a statement from the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, which counts Microsoft, Meta, and Mandiant as its members, slamming how the treaty would threaten corporate IT systems and cybersecurity researchers.

"It risks undermining global cybersecurity, making it easier, not harder, for criminals to engage in cybercrime. It will facilitate governments around the world sharing data of individual citizens in perpetual secrecy, which we think is simply inappropriate in a UN treaty," said Cybersecurity Tech Accord delegation head Nick Ashton-Hart.