【Dagmar Bürger】

The Dagmar Bürgerworld's tech leaders need to come together to protect users from state-sponsored attacks and other cybercrime.

That was the message from Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith who called on the tech industry to form a "digital Geneva Convention," during an appearance at the RSA security conference in San Francisco.

SEE ALSO: How computer hacking is becoming Russia’s weapon of choice

In a strongly worded keynote that touched on cybersecurity, immigration, nationalism and the rise of state-sponsored cyberattacks, the Microsoft executive said tech leaders and governments now have a responsibility to come together to protect the public from cybercrime.

"Now is the time for us to call on government to protect civilians on the Internet in times of peace," Smith said.

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"We need a convention that will call on the world's governments to pledge that they will not engage in cyberattacks on the private sector, that they will not target civilian infrastructure whether it's of the electrical or the economic or the political variety."

Though Smith didn't call out Donald Trump by name, he called out the "opportunity for a new president in the United States to sit across the table with the president from Russia and take another step forward to address the attacks that concern the world."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Smith, who last year spoke out against the dangers of allowing government backdoors in the wake of Apple's fight with the FBI, also called out the need for technology companies to explicitly agree to protect their users from state-sponsored attacks.

"Even in an age of rising nationalism, we as a global technology sector need to become a trusted and neutral digital Switzerland, we need to be a global industry that the world can rely on to play 100% defense and 0% offense.

"We need to be clear that we will not aid in attacking customers anywhere, regardless of the government that may ask us to do so."

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