Former Mossad chief's cybersecurity company to operate in Gulf
Tamir Pardo's XM Cyber will bid to protect infrastructures
in the UAE and Bahrain, as part of a consortium led by Rafael.
Israeli cybersecurity company XM Cyber, cofounded by former
Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, is entering the Persian Gulf for the first time. The
startup will sell cybersecurity products to protect the region's gas, oil and
financial infrastructures.
Following the signing of the Abraham accords last year,
normalizing relations between Israel and Gulf countries the UAE and Bahrain, XM
Cyber signed a cooperation agreement with Dubai-based Spire Solutions, led by
Indian experts who also represent Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
(Nasdaq: CHKP) and CyberArk Software Inc.
(Nasdaq:CYBR). Pardo serves as president of XM Cyber and has an equal
share in controlling the company with cofounders CEO Noam Erez and CTO Boaz
Gorodissky, a former head of the technology department at the Prime Minister's
Office.
In addition, XM Cyber will cooperate with Rafael Advanced
Defense Systems and a new consortium set up to sign contracts with companies in
the Gulf in the field of gas and oil infrastructures including Israel Electric
Corp. (IEC), Energy Infrastructures and other cybersecurity companies like
Waterfall Security Solutions, TrapX Security, and Radiflow. Sources close to XM
Cyber have confirmed to "Globes" about the cooperation although the
company itself declined to officially comment on the matter.
XM Cyber has developed products that identify weaknesses in
critical infrastructures and provide alerts as required. The company deploys an
array of virtual sensors throughout the customer's operational infrastructure
network to simulate operations during a cyberattack. Through these simulated
attacks, XM Cyber identifies weaknesses in the critical infrastructures and
potential routes for penetrating the infrastructures, thus testing structural
vulnerabilities as well as human errors in assembling the software and hardware
of the infrastructures and the behavior of employees in the interfaces with the
infrastructures.
After its initial installation, XM Cyber produces a map of
the weaknesses and potential breaches of the infrastructure that the security
manager must close. The company's system continues to scan the network to
identify exposures and vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, poorly managed
credentials and risky user activities that hackers could potentially exploit to
penetrate an organization or infrastructure. All this provides ongoing
protection.
XM Cyber began its overseas operations in the US where it
works with several major banks. The company has since extended its operations
to the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy and other Western European
countries including, most recently, France. Customers include Hamburg port and
US insurance company Plymouth Rock.
At this stage Spire Solutions will help XM Cyber work with
the only two countries in the Persian Gulf who were signatories to the Abraham
Accords - the UAE and Bahrain. This is in contrast to other Israeli companies
who are working under the radar with countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman and
Qatar who do not have full relations with Israel.
XM Cyber has raised $49 million to date from investors
including Shaul Shani's Swarth Group, the first to invest in the company, as
well as former CIA head David Petraeus, Nasdaq Ventures, and Australia's
Macquarie Capital
XM Cyber is also working in Dubai as part of a consortium
headed by Rafael to protect national infrastructures such as gas rigs, oil
wells, ports and airports. The aim of the coalition is to promote cooperation
deals between Israeli companies and UAE government companies so that not every
Israeli company will need to conduct individual negotiations but rather Rafael
undertakes the initial mapping of needs and sells the systems required jointly.
A source close to the deal said that in addition to the UAE, the consortium
will also work with other government sectors in the Gulf.
According to the Intelligence Online website, the UAE did
not like the previous attempts by individual Israeli companies to approach them
separately and from these efforts Israel realized the importance of a joint
approach.
In addition to XM Cyber, the Israeli consortium's members
include Waterfall Security Solutions led by cofounder and CEO Lior Frenkel, who
previously founded encryption systems and digital intervention company Gita
Technologies, which was acquired by Verint. Waterfall, which is already operating
in Abu Dhabi as well as Singapore and the US, has developed systems that
prevent cyberattacks from one network to another such as between a
communications network and an oil rig.
Other consortium members include Radiflow, led by CEO Ilan
Barda, which specializes in industrial control systems; and Cyberpro led by
former senior IDF 8200 intelligence unit officer Gal Ganot; and cybersecurity
company Cervello, and TrapX Security, which protects infrastructures by luring
attackers into various authentic but false traps.
The field of infrastructure security is vital for countries
like the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and even Qatar, which are based on the oil
and gas industries. Electronic infrastructure security has become critical
recently after the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline in the US in May,
which shut down the oil pipeline system for a month and caused serious delays
in the supply of oil to the Eastern US. Last year Israel was subject to a
cyberattack on its water and sewage system, which did not cause major damage
but demonstrated the potential vulnerability of local infrastructures.
The most famous cyberattack of all, more than a decade ago,
was the Stuxnet malicious computer worm, which successfully targeted the
Iranian nuclear program through its Siemens SCADA systems and centrifuges, and
was credited to western security agencies.
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