Updated November 16th, 2021 at 13:57 IST

Israel to build artificial intelligence research laboratory for dealing with cybersecurity

The INCD recently announced that Israel is going to establish a laboratory for researching as well as learning more about AI in the sector of cybersecurity.

Reported by: Anwesha Majumdar
Image: Unsplash | Image:self
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The Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) announced on Monday that the nation is going to establish a laboratory for researching as well as learning more about artificial intelligence (AI) in the sector of cybersecurity. According to the INCD, the lab facility will be created in Be'er Sheva area of the southern city, in collaboration with the Ben Gurion University of the city, Xinhua reported.  

INCD further noted that this establishment is a part of the government initiative to improve towns and cities in the Negev desert. It also revealed that the research, which will be conducted in the lab, will solely focus on the partnership between academics, government, as well as business. The lab will even acknowledge and tackle 'AI cyber threats' and would build innovative AI-based defensive methods and skills for improving the cyber security of intelligent systems.  

'Israel was the most targeted by ransomware attacks since 2020'

It is worth noting that Israel has been the subject of several cyber-attacks. According to a recent analysis from the Spanish cyber security firm Virus Total, in the month of October, Israel was the most targeted by ransomware attacks since 2020. The Google-commissioned cyber security investigation saw that the zionist state submitted the largest number of samples, which was revealed on October 14. The study result that dubbed the 'Ransomware Activity Report', was built on over 80 million samples taken from 140 nations. 

Furthermore, Ransomware has evolved into one of the world's most serious and growing cyber threats.  A ransomware strike on Kaseya, a US-based service provider, temporarily shut down hundreds of organisations in 17 countries in July. Following this, the FBI launched a complete investigation into the situation, collaborating with the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency and other US government agencies to comprehend the breadth of danger. 

The US and Israel's Joint Taskforce to combat cyber-attacks

In addition to this, on November 14, Sunday, the United States Treasury Department stated that it will collaborate with Israel's Ministry of Finance to combat ransomware and cybersecurity threats, The Hill reported. According to a release from the Treasury Department, the task force would strive to defend important financial systems and develop technologies, further boosting international collaboration to confront the danger of ransomware internationally. 

The Treasury Department also revealed that the nations will draught a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to assist sharing of information initiatives in the finance industry, including cybersecurity recommendations, occurrences, and threat intelligence, as well as employee training and other operations. 

(Image: Unsplash)

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Published November 16th, 2021 at 13:57 IST