The Abraham Accords expand with cybersecurity collaboration

U.S., allies in Middle East and North Africa broaden collaboration on cyberdefense

The United States and four allies in the Middle East and North Africa are announcing today that they’re formally expanding a 2020 deal normalizing relations between Israel and a handful of other nations in the region to include cybersecurity.

The arrangement, which is still developing, will involve increased sharing of information on cybersecurity threats, as well as the potential for tabletop exercises and more, among some signatories of the Abraham Accords. Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary for Strategy, Policy and Plans Rob Silvers, who traveled to Israel for the announcement and further talks, said the expansion builds on existing cyber collaboration between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States to include Bahrain and Morocco.

“We’ll be meeting as a group to chart out how we can deepen our work on cyberdefense,” Silvers told The Cybersecurity 202 in an exclusive interview. “Our countries face common cyber challenges — obviously, we all face cybercrime, ransomware and so forth. 

“Iran is a dangerous, destabilizing actor across the region,” Silvers said. “We have seen their attacks on U.S. targets as well as targets across the Middle East.”

Silvers is touting the deal as a history-making achievement.“This is a piece of diplomatic history, a piece of cybersecurity history and a wonderful opportunity to deepen security partnerships,” Silvers said in prepared remarks for a speech this morning at the Cybertech conference in Tel Aviv. Cyber leaders from the Abraham Accord nations will appear onstage at the conference later today.

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