The US Department of
Defense and Israeli Ministry of Defense have entered an agreement to
increase cyber-defense cooperation between the nations.
According to Army Technology,
representatives discussed a number of ways to further strengthen
cooperation on a range of issues, and the deal will see the USA deploy
the US National Guard's cyber squadrons against ISIS.
The decision follows a meeting between US Defense Secretary Ash
Carter and Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Ya'alon, where Carter
reaffirmed the unshakeable US commitment to Israel's security and the
importance of the US-Israeli defense relationship.
Tim Erlin, director of security and risk at Tripwire, told Infosecurity that information sharing is a key component to successful cyber-defense, whether between corporations or nations.
“The addition of cyber-attacks to theater of war is a growing
trend,” he said. “We shouldn’t be surprised that existing international
defense cooperation might be extended to this new battlefront.”
Paul Fletcher, cybersecurity evangelist at Alert Logic,
said: “It’s possible that there has already been some collaboration
between these two military cyber-teams in the past, and this
announcement is a way to formalize the relationship and establish
specific protocols for communication and information sharing."
“This cooperative partnership shows a maturation of the strategy
for the US DoD to partner with foreign governments and acknowledgement
of their technical contribution. This is especially interesting to me, a
veteran, because several years ago the US DoD wouldn’t consider
purchasing from any technology vendors from any foreign country (this
policy may have changed by now). To the point that when Check Point
Firewall-1 was the leading firewall technology, but the USA military
couldn’t use the product because Check Point was based in
Israel. Clearly, this public statement shows the DoD’s willingness to
move their cybersecurity capabilities forward and working together for
the greater good.
“Yes, this joint capability will certainly help fight
cyber-terrorism threats. It will help just from the perspective of
adding more highly skilled cybersecurity professionals in the fight
against cyber-terrorists. Only time will tell if this strategy will be
more effective than trying to install backdoors in technology.”
The news follows an announcement in February that the UK and
Israel planned to extend their cooperation in defending national
infrastructure installations from cyber-attacks. According to the Jewish News,
the two nations are extending collaboration by strengthening the
relationship between their Cyber Emergency Response Teams, and by
launching a new academic engagement in the emerging field of
cyber-physical security.
Leo Taddeo, chief security officer at Cryptzone,
said: “Information and intelligence-sharing are critical to
success in cyber-warfare. No single country can collect and process all
of the data necessary to maintain strategic and tactical superiority.”