Global entities come shopping for Israeli cybersecurity
“There are a lot of global innovators in cybersecurity. But if I were to put a bet on it, I would bet on Israel,” Esti Peshin, director of Cyber Programs at Israel Aerospace Industries, tells ISRAEL21c about where the best new technologies will come from.
Calls for collaboration echoed around the Trade Fairs hall.
Former Mossad senior officer Haim Tomer says “every country has felt the effects of cyberattacks.”
“What you see today is going to get a lot worse in the future if we don’t band together,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told conference attendees.
“Terrorist organizations use the same tools we use – against us,” said Netanyahu. “The Internet of Things can be used by these terrorist organizations for dangerous purposes. Unless we work together and cooperate, the future can be very menacing. In this context, Israel, the United States and other countries should cooperate at the government level as well as among the industries.”
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) of Singapore and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) announced a new collaboration to develop technologies for tackling advanced persistent threats (APTs).
“BGU and NTU recognize the grave necessity of stopping APTs, which are some of the hardest cyber attacks to detect, and have allocated significant funding over two years to develop early detection methods,” said BGU Prof. Dan Blumberg. “Cyber security is a global threat which has become a research topic of increasing interest at BGU and we are pleased to be collaborating with our partners in Singapore to stem the tide.”
Yuval Elovici, head of BGU Cyber Security Research Center, told journalists that the research and patented technology developed at the university are used to create new prevention and detection tools.
Elovici gave an example of how smartwatches can be hacked, and when worn into a secure environment, end up compromising the organization.
“The vulnerabilities are great,” says Elovici, noting his research team is now creating a solution to alert organizations to new devices that enter their secure space. “We’re developing mechanisms so that we can continue to live with IoT and still keep safe.”
At the BGU exhibit area, two prominent examples of research-to-startup success include Morphisec, which is now opening a US office, and Double Octopus, which recently announced a $6 million investment round. Both companies developed cyber security prevention and detection tools based on patented technology originating out of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Israel’s vision some twenty years ago to put cyber on top of the agenda was crucial to the country’s place as a world cybersecurity expert today. To further that vision and to keep Israel’s new generation at the top of the cyber game, Netanyahu announced the creation of a National Center for Cyber Education.
The new center will have a $6 million budget over the next five years, to “increase the number and raise the level of young Israelis for their future integration into the Israeli security services, industry and the academic world.”
Viva Sarah Press reports on the creativity, innovation and ingenuity taking place in Israel.This article is published courtesy of Israel21c
