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Enterprise Security Magazine | Wednesday, August 03, 2022
Israel’s cybersecurity system is ranked to be on a top note. Hence, the United Nations has combined forces with Israel for enhanced cybersecurity protection that benefits both nations mutually.
FREMONT, CA: Israel and the United States have joined forces to launch a new cybersecurity programme that accounts for a fund distribution of 1.5 million USD. It will be utilised to carry out projects bringing solutions for the protection of critical infrastructure. The programme will be administered by a US-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) along with the US Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate and the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD). Thus, a joint progression between the US and Israeli companies is promoted in several technologies, paving the way for new creations in sequence.
The new cybersecurity programme enables collaboration between US and Israeli companies, which may be dealt with by a company and a university or research institute. It aims to educate on cybersecurity and emerging technologies to improve cyber protection and resilience of both countries' critical infrastructure and economies. Hence, funds of up to 1.5 million USD per project, or 50 per cent of research and development budgets, are granted for combined work leading to technologies’ pilot implementations. Proposed partnerships and projects, according to the program's organisers, should focus on technologies that offer secure architecture for safeguarding core operational processes, real-time risk assessment pilots for small-to-medium-sized airports or sea ports, cyber resilience centre pilots for small and medium businesses and enterprises, and advanced analytics.
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This programme has sown seeds for a series of cybersecurity collaboration agreements between the US and Israel that came into effect in March. It aims to deepen and expand ties between both countries on the cyber front by preventing terrorist financing, and enabling cyber-specific research and development via creating an institutional vehicle, and transportation cybersecurity collaboration. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) have signed an agreement to strengthen cyber corporations to protect their economies and critical infrastructure. The agreement includes mutual commitments to increase collaborative risk management in cyber threats, countering ransomware attacks, and promoting bilateral cyber R&D and partnerships between the public and private sectors.
Energy, aviation, water, supply chain operations, and manufacturing comprise critical infrastructure. Thus, the cybersecurity of this critical infrastructure may expose countries’ national security, economy, and public concerns to prominent risks. Cyberattacks persist despite enhancing cybersecurity systems. Some high-profile attacks in 2022 included hacking of Lithuania’s state railways, airports, and government ministries, Iranian steel companies, and US organisations in the military, supply chain, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and software sectors through Microsoft accounts. Israel was the most affected nation on account of ransomware in 2020, while 2021 also experienced major downslopes due to major effects on critical infrastructure.
Yet, on a positive note, Israel can be considered the powerhouse of cybersecurity due to records of companies raising 8.8 billion USD, which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of total funds raised in the previous year by cybersecurity firms. Thus, by joining hands with the US, Israel intends to decrease the vulnerabilities in its cybersecurity system for a secured future.
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