Israel is a leader in the area of cyber security as it is the 2nd largest exporter of cyber goods and services in the world and gathers much of its expertise from its elite military intelligence. In fact, in 2016, investments in Israeli cyber security companies shot up by 9%. Taking notice of Israel’s advancements in this area, world-renown technology company Microsoft announced last Thursday, June 8 that it has reached an agreement to purchase U.S.-Israeli cyber security firm Hexadite to better combat cyber attacks. Hexadite is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, however its research and development center is located in Israel. As a provider of security technology, Hexadite prides itself of its unique automated response system that quickly and immediately combats cyber attacks as soon as they are detected rather than requiring cyber analysts to manually resolve every threat. As the company emphasizes on its website, “Fighting automation with automation is the only way to level the playing field. Hexadite uses artificial intelligence to investigate and remediate every alert, resolving incidents in seconds and freeing up your analysts to focus on the threats that truly demand their expertise.”[1] Microsoft’s announcement of this acquisition is a direct response to its objective announced in January to invest over $1 billion annually on cyber security research and development. Hence, Microsoft’s recent purchase is a perfect example of how companies in the United States that desire to build business relations with Israel can reach their economic objectives by looking into the areas of industry that Israel dominates and make economic alliances accordingly that will benefit both parties. Sources: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-26/israeli-cybersecurity-industry-grows-as-global-threats-multiply http://nocamels.com/2014/12/cyber-security-nation-israel/ http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.794706 https://www.hexadite.com/company/history/
- Staff