Above left to
right: US NSC Cybersecurity coordinator Robert E. Joyce, BGU VP and Dean
of R&D Prof. Dan Blumberg, Dell-EMC Beer-Sheva Center of Excellence Site
Leader Maya Hofman Levy, and Thomas Patrick Bossert, Assistant to the President
of the United States for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. (Courtesy)
Thomas Patrick Bossert,
Assistant to the President of the United States for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
visited Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and its Advanced Technologies Park
last week to learn more about how the unique cyber-security ecosystem is
developing.
Bossert is President
Trump’s senior homeland security advisor.
BGU VP and Dean of
R&D Prof. Dan Blumberg explained that the ecosystem was a unique
collaboration among four different entities: academia (BGU), industry
(companies at the hi-tech park and on campus), the IDF (elite technology units)
and the government (the national CERT).
“This is a combination
of scientific capabilities and everyone’s willingness to cooperate. It is only
in Beer-Sheva that rivals like Dell-EMC, IBM, Leidos, and Deutsche Telekom work
together on joint projects rather than just compete,” he said.
“BGU is the anchor that
enables the ecosystem to thrive. Our stellar faculty and students produce
outstanding research. We have developed longstanding fruitful collaborations
with industry and the government,” he added.
The visit was organized
by CyberSpark, a non-profit organization set up to promote the ecosystem and
plan its expansion. Bossert also met with CyberSpark CEO Roni Zehavi, Maya
Hofman-Levy, Uriya Stern, and Jay Alexander from Dell-EMC’s Beer-Sheva Center
of Excellence, Shay Saffer from PayPal’s Center of Excellence and BGU’s Cyber
Security Research Center’s Dr. Mordechai Guri.
Bossert and his
colleagues also toured the Deutsche Telekom Innovation Labs@BGU, Deutsche
Telekom’s only R&D center outside of Germany, which is staffed by BGU students
and faculty.
Bossert was accompanied by Robert E. Joyce, NSC
Cybersecurity coordinator, Michael Paul Sellitto, NSC Director for
Cybersecurity Policy, Andrew Hart Teitelbaum, his Special Assistant and Darren
Turner and Daniel Gage from the US Embassy.