Yesterday, the US Congress voted by a large majority in favor of two bills to promote US-Israel cooperation on cyber security research.
The United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2016 will establish a grant program for joint R&D projects focusing on detecting and combatting cyber threats. Grants will be provided to joint ventures between Israeli and US companies, non-profit entities, academic institutions or government entities in both countries. Grants will be provided only for projects which are not considered classified in Israel or the US. The program will run for seven years after the law comes into effect.
The United States-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act expands a binational R&D program run by the US Department of Homeland Security and Israel's Ministry of Public Security. The program is aimed at helping new products overcome the 'valley of death' between initial research and a successful product commercialization. This legislation will expand the program to include cyber security research.
The legislation was introduced by representatives Jim Langevin, a Democrat from Rhode Island and John Ratcliffe, a Republican from Texas. The initiatives followed the May visit of a delegation of US legislators, in which cyber threats to both Israel and the US were discussed.
"The US and Israel are the primary exporters of cyber security technologies," said Langevin, the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies. "Our bills will utilize expert pools in both states to promote cyber sciences … web security is the foremost security challenge of our generation and developing innovative means to contend with this problem requires cooperation with close allies such as Israel."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 30, 2016
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