An unspecified country in Latin America awarded the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)-led Israeli Cyber Companies Consortium (IC3) a contract worth tens of millions of dollars to establish a national cyber center, IAI said March 27.
Under the contract, the consortium will supply a strategic national-level cyber defense center that includes risk evaluation, establishment of an advanced monitor and defense center against cyber attacks, an information sharing infrastructure, and a cyber training program.
The IC3 was established in 2016 with the endorsement of the Israeli government “to provide holistic, end-to-end, cyber solutions at the national level, working with leading Israeli cyber companies having complementary areas of expertise, to address technological-cyber needs at a national and governmental level,” IAI said in a statement. Other consortium companies include Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Verint Systems Ltd., Bynet, ECI, CyberX, ClearSky, BGProtect, CyberArk, and Safebreach.
IAI leads the contract through its subsidiary ELTA Systems Ltd., which will oversee the project’s implementation; supply a national-grade solution for the identification, investigation, and early detection of cyber attacks; accompany and train cyber personnel; and establish a public information sharing platform in the cyber domain, the company said.
Verint will deploy its Threat Protection System solution, which acts as a multi-vector detection, automated investigation and response platform focused on advanced cyber attacks at the national level. Check Point will supply solutions for Next Generation Threat Prevention, Advanced Access Control and forensic lab tools. This will be combined with real-time actionable intelligence at a national scale to provide protection against cyber attacks, IAI said.
ClearSky plans to provide cyber intelligence solutions, strategic planning, and cyber defense methodologies for national cyber protection and collaboration. CyberX will focus on the detection of cyber threats in supervisory control and data acquisition and industrial control systems (ICS).
“Combining technological cyber solutions from an assortment of leading Israeli companies allows us from both the international and technological level to offer a comprehensive and integrated solution – this is a case when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” Esti Peshin, general manager of IAI’s cyber division, said in a statement.
Peshin added that the Israeli government’s endorsement of the consortium is critical to its success “and we are confident that the model applied in Latin America will continue to prove itself in the future.”
The presidents of Check Point and Verint also underscored they are glad to be part of the IC3.
“We are very proud to be part of the IC3 coalition that enables customers to benefit from broader, integrated solutions,” Amnon Bar-Lev, president of Check Point, said in a statement. Elad Sharon, president of Verint Cyber Intelligence, added “Verint is honored to be a major player in the IC3 consortium, cooperating with IAI’s Cyber Division and other leading Israeli companies.”
Separately, IAI was awarded a contract worth tens of millions of dollars to supply various border protection systems to an unspecified South American country. Under this contract IAI will supply ground systems; unmanned aerial systems (UAS); intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) vehicles; and a set of radar, electro-optical (EO)/infrared (IR), and other sensors.
The first phase of the contract will be carried out by IAI’s ELTA and includes border protection systems for four border crossings with different terrain.
IAI will specifically supply several BirdEye650D Small Tactical UAS; a number of mini-UAV BirdEye400 and HoverMast100 systems; a variety of sensors for all ranges manufactured in various IAI divisions; Persistent Ground & Coastal Surveillance Radars for border protection and other radars; electro-optics; ELI-3302 Granite ISRV vehicles; observation towers; and a cyber system for identification and early detection of threats along the border.
The BirdEye650Ds are designed for missions like ISR with a range of 93 miles and 15 hours.
IAI said the information these sensors pick up is then transferred in real-time to a C4I system at each border crossing. The C4I systems include data-fusion capabilities for complete control of the area and the data from all of the border crossings in transmitted in parallel to the country’s central command.
Gadi Shamni, vice president of land systems at IAI highlighted the challenge of defending four border crossings with different attributes.
“The professional challenge in defending the four border crossings in question is considerable-this is a varying terrain without geographical contiguity and the different systems needed some adaptation so as to provide a comprehensive and holistic solution,” he said in a statement.