A group of major telecommunications and IT industry leaders officially launched a new council Friday aimed at finding new solutions for future cyber threats.

Industry groups USTelecom and  the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) will lead the new Council to Secure the Digital Economy (CSDE) and work to gather cross-sector expertise on mitigating software vulnerabilities and developing solutions to protect the growing network of Internet of Things (IoT) devices.CSDE logo

“CSDE brings together leaders and innovators from across the internet ecosystem to combat increasingly sophisticated and emerging cyber threats through collaborative action to drive effective cyber solutions across the public and private sectors,” USTelecom officials wrote in a statement.

Industry partners on the CSDE include Akamai [AKAM], AT&T [T], CenturyLink [CTL], Ericsson [ERIC], IBM [IBM], Intel [INTC], NTT, Oracle [ORCL], Samsung, SAP [SAP], Telefonica [TEF] and Verizon [VZ].

The new group aims to bridge IT and telecommunications agendas to address the growing attack vector associated with the rapid proliferation of IoT devices.

“As our hyper-interconnected world becomes increasingly dependent upon the internet and communications infrastructure, threats to the global digital ecosystem have become more frequent, sophisticated and consequential,” USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said in a statement. “The CSDE reflects a shared commitment across the leadership of the global information and communications technology sector to pursue security mitigation as intensely as digital innovation.”

The council will be comprised of top officials and technical experts from the aforementioned companies with the aim of eventually presenting solutions to lawmakers.

“As innovators and stewards of the digital economy, this new joint USTelecom and ITI council is committed to building a more resilient ecosystem for consumers, businesses, and the public through improved cyber security, trust, accountability, and engagement with government,” ITI CEO Dean Garfield in a statement. “This is a tremendous opportunity to convene top thought leaders, innovators, technologists, and policymakers to address and mitigate threats to our global digital economy.”

CSDE received praise from Department of Homeland Officials, including Chris Krebs, the department’s senior official performing the duties of the under secretary.

“I applaud ITI, USTelecom and their members for leaning forward and addressing the challenges of a more secure digital economy by building upon strategic initiatives from a more integrated and collaborative [information and communications technology] approach,” Krebs said in a statement. “This is exactly the type of industry collaboration needed to help frame the important issues through a shared digital economy lens.”