Israeli Cyber Security Firms Draw Foreign Interest

Israeli Cyber Security Firms Draw Foreign Interest

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cyberark featureThe intensification of cyberattacks on corporations and government agencies has led to a surge of new companies offering cybersecurity solutions. Israel boasts some of the world’s top cybersecurity firms. Until recently, investment dollars generally supported startups with a focus on defensive cyber solutions, but now firms like Israel’s CyberArk, providers of proactive and full-service cyber solutions, are of growing interest to tech investors.

The New York Times, Wells Fargo, Sony, even the Pentagon, have all been subjected to cyberattacks. The intensification of cyberattacks on corporations and government agencies has led to a surge of new companies offering cybersecurity solutions.

As Udi Mokady, CEO of CyberArk Software, explains: “Everybody understands that you buy Swiss watches from Switzerland and information security from Israel.” Israel’s investment in cybersecurity is a result of the physical and cyber threats to which the country has been exposed.

It’s a big part of our edge, and the customers know it,” says the CEO, who served in a military intelligence unit and holds degrees in law and management.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

According to HLS News Wire CyberArk develops software that “locks up” critical IT infrastructure, and monitors and records all data interactions by authorized users on-premise, off-premise, or in the cloud. “Given the amount of sophisticated attacks out there, the border between insider and outsider has disappeared,” Mokady says. This has led to greater demand for “inside-out” solutions.

CyberArk was the first to recognize the significant vulnerability of privileged access accounts,” says Nimrod Kozlovsky, of Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), one of CyberArk’s main backers, along with Goldman Sachs. “A large part of most attacks we see relate to abusing privileged accounts and exploiting them to gain access to sensitive resources.”

Kozlovsky is head of JVP’s new Cyber Labs incubator launched May 2012 in collaboration with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev under the Office of Israeli Chief Scientist. JVP says it is committed to nurturing tech startups focusing on proactive cybersecurity solutions.

There is a common recognition now that existing products for cybersecurity are limited in scope,” Kozlovsky told Israel21c. “We see a paradigm shift in security systems from reacting after an attack is identified to proactive systems that can predict and prevent an attack.” General Electric (GE) has signed on as an investor in one of the incubator’s early startups.

In its most recent annual survey, CyberArk found that 80 percent of nearly 1,000 global executives and IT security professionals consider cyberthreats a greater risk to their country than physical attacks. Fifty-one percent of those surveyed believe that a cyberattacker is currently or has infiltrated their corporate network within the past year.