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Israel, UAE companies sign cyberattack protection deal

March 16, 2023 at 2:02 pm

Illustration file picture shows a man typing on a computer keyboard [REUTERS/Kacper Pempel]

An Israeli security company signed a deal yesterday with United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s telecom operator Etisalat to protect its business from cyberattacks.

According to the Times of Israel, Cyberint Technologies Ltd’s platform can track cybercriminals and provide real-time threat intelligence through the constant analysis of hundreds of millions of data points and ongoing monitoring of external risk exposure.

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Cyberint CEO Yochai Corem announced in a statement: “No enterprise wants to wait until its information is compromised or its service impacted to take action against cybercriminals, yet many companies remain vulnerable.”

“Our agreement with Etisalat shows that forward-looking companies, especially those in critical verticals such as telecom, are taking action and turning the tables on cybercriminals.”

It comes after a report published earlier this year by cyber-security firm, Group-IB, found that companies based in the UAE were the most targeted by ransomware operations, which remains the main cyber threat to organisations across the world, including the Middle East and North Africa region.

The report revealed that in the second half of 2021 and first half of 2022, 42 companies in the GCC region were targeted by these operations, with 33 per cent of them based in the UAE and 29 per cent from Saudi.

Etisalat Chief Technology Officer, Khalid Murshed, said that working with a “reputable cybersecurity partner, reflects our strategy to provide every means to fortify our company’s assets, secure our customers’ data and inspire confidence in all stakeholders in today’s interconnected world.”

The two countries normalised relations in September 2020 in what was seen as a major triumph of former US President Donald Trump’s time in office.

Several bilateral agreements on investment, tourism, direct flights, security and telecommunications were signed following the deal.

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