Facebook, Yahoo create ThreatExchange to fight cyberattacks

Facebook, Yahoo and other technology firms have  announced the creation of a "ThreatExchange" for sharing information in a bid to foil cyberattacks, AFP reported.

"ThreatExchange is built on the existing Facebook platform infrastructure... so that partner companies can query the available threat information and also publish to all or a subset of participating organisations," the social network said in a statement.

"Our goal is that organisations anywhere will be able to use ThreatExchange to share threat information more easily, learn from each other's discoveries, and make their own systems safer. That's the beauty of working together on security. When one company gets stronger, so do the rest of us."

According to the statement, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, and Yahoo had been working on the programme and new partners included Bitly and Dropbox.

"We have a vested interest in making the internet safer and giving people better ways to connect and share," Facebook said.

"After working with a number of our peer companies to refine the structure and implementation, we are ready to introduce ThreatExchange and see what we can learn from each other."

The development comes in the backdrop of a stalled bid to bring in cybersecurity legislation to enable companies  to share information about threats easily, without fear of liability.

WithThreatExchange, the new platform,  software engineers from member companies would be able to seek information about threat and piece together the big picture.

According to Mark Hammell, manager of Facebook's Threat Infrastructure team, it was the years of working with the small picture that spurred the idea for the ThreatExchange, according to Mark Hammell.

According to Hammell the team's goal was that organisations anywhere would be able to use ThreatExchange to share threat information more easily, learn from each other's discoveries, and make their own systems safer," says Hammell.

According to experts, hackers become more effective after they get some success in targeting an organisation. With the success it becomes easier for hackers to recalibrate their software and target organisations.

In the past, the approach involved passing along emails or sharing spreadsheets, to share information. The Facebook ThreatExchange works to bring about a standardised process of  working together to thwart threats.