US, Israel Partner on Cybersecurity Issues

The U.S. and Israel are working together on fighting ransomware, a report from Bloomberg says.

The two nations have put together a joint cybersecurity initiative, coming less than two weeks after the N50 Group, which makes Pegasus spyware, was blacklisted along with another Israeli company.

The agreement shows an opportunity for the countries to work together on a spate of challenges in ransomware, which threaten global finances.

With the agreement, the U.S. and Israel will fight back against several big attacks. Last week there were several arrests in this fashion, too, associated with a Russian ransomware group.

The partnership will feature information-sharing between the two countries regarding cybersecurity regulations, guidance, hacking incidents and information about cyber threats. And it will reportedly come along with more coordination between government agencies so as to make sure the responses to cyberattacks are as good as they can get.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said that it was crucial to get ahead of the issues.

“Increased information exchanges, joint work, and collaboration on policy, regulation, and enforcement are critical to our economic and national security objectives,” Adeyemo said in a statement. “Harnessing both the power of international cooperation and of technology innovation will position us to support economic competitiveness, prosperity, and to combat global threats including ransomware.”

PYMNTS has previously reported on the fact that there are hundreds of holes in federal computers’ cybersecurity provisions, which could mean they’re open to cyberattacks.

See also: White House: Federal Computers Vulnerable to Cyberattacks

The shortcomings, addressed in a recent White House directive, need updates of outdated versions of software, some of which have not been updated for years. Others only have a limited amount of protections against hackers. President Joe Biden has set a limit of Nov. 17 as the target date for fixing some of the worst issues, while May 3, 2022 will be the deadline for other things.