Accenture (ACN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Avanade are collaborating through a multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement to develop, integrate and bring to market enhanced cyber defense solutions to help clients better detect, investigate and respond to cyber threats.

The collaboration extends the companies' longstanding strategic relationship, which began in 2000. The cyber defense offerings will be infused with joint threat intelligence and initially span three core areas: Managed Security Operations: enhancing existing Accenture managed security services with integration of the latest Microsoft security products and services to monitor, detect and quickly respond to security breaches - targeted for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid systems. Incident Response Support: a joint, global and collaborative teaming approach leveraging tools and integrated processes to help clients return to normal operations after a significant security breach. Integrated Threat Hunting: leveraging the Incident Response experience of the three companies to actively locate previously undetected breaches.

According to the Accenture Security Index, more than 70% of organizations globally cannot identify and fully protect their corporate high-value assets. In addition, the associated costs of cyber attacks are having a growing financial impact on businesses. In 2017, the average cost of cybercrime climbed to $11.7M per organization, a 23% increase from last year, according to a new study by Accenture and the Ponemon Institute.