November 15, 2016

The Ministry of Defense’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) has announced that 2017 will be Israel’s year of cybersecurity exports.

“We identified specific opportunities and needs in more than 20 countries around the world, with which SIBAT has close ties. We are centralizing a special effort to connect the amazing abilities of Israel’s cyber industries to the needs of our friends around the world,” said SIBAT Director Mishel Ben Baruch.

SIBAT is a key partner in the 2016 HLS and Cyber conference now underway in Tel Aviv.

Delegations from around the world are in Israel to find new cyber developments.

The conference is focusing on defending critical infrastructures, cyber crime and counter-terrorism, and on emergency readiness.

The Israel Export Institute announced that there are over 300 Israeli companies working in cyber today. Some 85 startups exhibited at the Tel Aviv conference.

Israel Aerospace Industries critical infrastructure model at the 2016 HLS and Cyber conference in Tel Aviv. Photo by Viva Sarah Press
Israel Aerospace Industries critical infrastructure model at the 2016 HLS and Cyber conference in Tel Aviv. Photo by Viva Sarah Press

Among them, APERIO Systems which secures critical control systems with a last line of defense against both internal and external cyber threats and malicious actors.

“With the unrelenting tenacity of cybercriminals, critical infrastructure breaches are inevitable. By guaranteeing the authenticity and integrity of operational data, APERIO Systems ensures that operators always know what’s really going on, enabling them to react quickly to a breach and take corrective action – making the critical systems resilient to the most dangerous of attacks,” said Yevgeni Nogin, CEO of APERIO Systems.

In 2015, Israeli companies exported $3.5 billion in cybersecurity, according to the Israel Export Institute.

Another theme of the cyber event in Tel Aviv is cooperation.

“Cyber warfare is combat terrorism. Cooperation between nations is necessary to eliminate and reduce the vulnerability and prices paid by countries as a result of cyber-attacks,” said SIBAT Director Ben Baruch. “We identified specific opportunities and needs in more than 20 counties around the world, with which SIBAT has close ties. The Israeli defense industries have amazing capabilities in research and development and technology, some of which is traditional defense technologies being adapted for cyber. Our industries have excellent marketing capabilities and the ability to bring clients tailored, flexible solutions.”

During a panel on preventing physical and cyber terrorism, Troles Oerting, Group Chief Information Security Officer at Barclays UK, said that only through a “public-private partnership” will cybersecurity succeed.

Meir Hayun, Head of the National Cyber Crime Unit, Israel Police, reiterated the call for working together. “We need to act together. Only an international task force will succeed against cyber crime,” Hayoun said. “When you have a global task force sharing tools and information, it will be very successful.”

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