BICOM

Brexit presents an opportunity for the UK and Israel to work even more closely in the field of cyber security, according to a new report published BICOM.

The paper, which is part of an ongoing project looking into Britain-Israel relations after Brexit, involved conversations with cyber experts in Israel and the UK. It concludes that Israeli cyber security experts are playing a vital role in protecting London’s status as a safe and secure global financial centre in the build up to Brexit.

The report highlights an increasing numbers of UK banks and finance companies working with Israeli cyber security companies to protect their operations. One major Israeli cyber security firm BICOM spoke to said it currently worked with three of the four major UK banks. HSBC have opened a tech hub and RBS and Barclays also work closely with a number of Israeli technology companies.

A report for Computer Weekly on BICOM’s publication said that “there are close links between Israel’s cyber security companies and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). The majority of firms are employing graduates from Israel’s signals intelligence organisation, Unit 8200, which has expertise in protecting cyber infrastructure against attacks from state-sponsored hackers”.

BICOM CEO James Sorene said: “Our report highlights a booming partnership at the official and commercial level. UK financial services want to ensure that their systems are safe and secure, so it is no surprise that they are increasingly working with Israeli cyber security companies who are the outstanding market leaders in fintech security. As London looks to bolster its position as the world’s global financial centre in the build up to Brexit we expect this partnership to deepen and expand with more Israeli cyber security companies working in London and more British financial services companies establishing research and innovation centres in Israel.”

One reason the reports cites for the growing partnership is the Israeli cyber experts’ ability to “think like the enemy” and build up advanced cyber security knowledge based on military experience.

Some 32 Israeli high-tech companies have set up operations in the UK in the 12 months following the Brexit referendum, bringing the total 337. They have invested £152m and created more than 800 jobs, the report said.

The research pointed to extensive co-operation at government level and said Israel was seen “as a first-order partner in digital security”.