Cybersecurity Think Tank, Team8, Hosts Former Director of the NSA, Gen. Keith Alexander, Global Leaders and Cyber Experts to Challenge the Current Cyber Paradigms at Israel's Annual Rethink Cyber Tel Aviv Event

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Team8 hosted yesterday its second annual cybersecurity thought leadership event, Rethink Cyber, in Tel Aviv.  This event marked the beginning of Israel's CyberWeek in partnership with Tel-Aviv University. The exclusive event presented eight prominent, global cybersecurity leaders and cyber experts, each of whom had eight minutes to challenge current cybersecurity paradigms and explore new, powerful directions for trends and innovation. Rethink Cyber Tel Aviv also hosted special guests General Keith Alexander, Former Director of the NSA and Former Commander of the U.S Cyber Command and Dave DeWalt, Chairman of industrial security company, Claroty, and former Chairman and CEO of FireEye & McAfee.

Rethink Cyber, now running in five cities worldwide, New York, London, San Francisco, Singapore and Tel Aviv,  gathers prominent CIOs, CISOs, cyber innovators, policymakers and security officials to explore the rapidly evolving arena of cyber technology.  

Leveraging multidisciplinary backgrounds and expertise, Team8 partnered with technology leaders Intel, Intuit and Checkmarx, financial leader Citigroup, consulting firms Accenture and Deloitte as well as Google Chairman Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Israel's Bank Leumi, Bezeq International, Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal and Startup Nation Central, who provided diverse support of the event.

The lineup of speakers for Rethink Cyber Tel Aviv included General Keith Alexander, President and CEO of IronNet Cybersecurity and Former Director of NSA and U.S. Cyber Command; Dave DeWalt, Chairman of Claroty and Former Chairman and CEO of FireEye and McAfee; Nadav Zafrir, CEO of Team8 and Former Commander of the IDF's Intelligence Unit 8200; Rick Echevarria VP, General Manager, Intel Platforms Security Division; Lisa O'Connor, Head of Global Security Research and Development, Accenture Technology Labs; Bob Blakley, Global Head of Information Security Innovation, Citigroup; Bret Hartman, VP & CTO, Security Business Group, Cisco Systems; Ofer Israeli, Founder & CEO, illusive networks; Shachar Levy, Founder & CEO of Sygnia; Karsten Nohl, Cryptographer and Security Researcher Chief Scientist, SRLabs; Irfan Saif, Principal and Cyber Ventures Leader, Deloitte and Oren Blitzblau, Social Responsibility Lead at Sygnia.

"The growth of digital assets and connectivity brings with it numerous benefits, but also makes us increasingly vulnerable," said Nadav Zafrir, Co-founder and CEO of Team8. "2016's widespread assaults on our global infrastructure systems should have been a wake-up call and now the stakes are only getting higher."

"Cyber is being used today as an element of national power, and it won't stop, but we can create a new system," said General Keith Alexander, CEO of ironnet and Former Director of the NSA and Former Commander of the U.S Cyber Command. "We need to build networks that are defensible, simple and can be easily integrated with one another. We need to begin sharing information across and among sectors at network speed, as well as with government."

In his speech, Dave DeWalt, Chairman of Claroty and former Chairman and CEO of FireEye and McAfee, focused on overcoming threats to industrial networks, outlining several key steps companies need to take to reduce risk, stressing that "companies need to build proper security governance into the C-level suite so they both understand the problems and can properly solve them."

"Emerging technology trends like machine learning and blockchain and industry-wide partnerships are key to addressing some of the major cybersecurity concerns facing our industry," said Rick Echevarria, VP General Manager Intel Platforms Security Division. "We have to ensure robust defense for next-gen innovation."

"The exponential growth of the enterprise attack surface greatly exacerbates today's cyber risk challenges and amplifies the need to abandon legacy approaches," said Irfan Saif, Principal and Cyber Ventures Leader at Deloitte. "The trade-offs truly stand in the way of innovation and need to be addressed across every industry."

"As threats and risks change, the self-sustaining enterprise must respond by segmenting, moving and morphing assets with a much more fluid and intentionally, unpredictable approach," said Lisa O'Connor, Head of Global Security Research and Development at Accenture.

About Team8  

Team8, Israel's most prestigious cybersecurity think tank and company creation platform, develops disruptive companies that challenge the biggest problems in cybersecurity today. The Team8 innovation process combines a research team with intimate knowledge of both offensive and defensive aspects of cybersecurity, access to the best cyber talent, and a global syndicate that provides access to customers, partners and key influencers. Team8 was founded by leading cybersecurity experts Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg and Liran Grinberg, all with deep ties to Israel's famous IDF Technology & Intelligence Unit 8200. It is backed by Microsoft, Cisco, AT&T, Accenture, Qualcomm, Nokia, Temasek, Mitsui, Bessemer Venture Partners, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Marker LLC. For more information on Team8, please visit http://www.team8.vc

Media Contact:
Matthew Krieger
GKPR for Team8
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SOURCE Team8