A dedicated IT security forum has been created by a consortium of leading vendors, to allow co-operation between companies around the world in addressing security threats.

Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Juniper Networks and Intel have set up the Industry Consortium for Advancement of Security on the Internet (ICASI), to provide a government-neutral way of resolving global, multi-vendor security incidents.

The creation of the group responds to the evolving security threat, which includes stealth attacks that could target multiple products simultaneously, or target shared protocols in multiple products.

"It is critical that the technology industry strengthen its ability to combat the ever-changing nature of the global cyber threat landscape," said Malcolm Harkins, general manager of Intel's information risk and security IT group.

George Stathakopoulos, general manager of product security at Microsoft said: "To truly improve online security and privacy, the industry must come together through dialogue, collaboration and consensus, and we believe ICASI is a crucial step in that direction.”