ANTONIO MAZZEOGoogle strengthens its grip on the web by buying Israeli 'cyber security' company Siemplify

Antonio Mazzeo, Pagine Esteri, 7/1/2022
Translated by Lena Bloch

By buying an Israeli startup, Google is strengthening its presence in the global cyber security market. With a press release issued on January 4, the transnational IT company headquartered in the USA has announced the acquisition of Siemplify, a leading data management and analysis company and SOAR (security orchestration, automation and response) provider, headquartered in Ramat Gan, a city on the eastern outskirts of Tel Aviv. Google reportedly spent no less than $500 million on the deal.

 

“Siemplify shares our vision in the cybersecurity space and with Google Cloud's specialized team will help companies better manage their threat response,” the transnational's management explains. Specifically, the Israeli start-up's applications will be made available to the Google Cloud Platform, the suite of “cloud computing” services that Google uses for its best-known products, such as the eponymous search engine, Gmail, Google Drive and the YouTube channel.

“In a time when cyberattacks are rapidly growing in both frequency and sophistication, there’s never been a better time to bring these two companies together,” adds the Google Cloud press office. “With Siemplify we will change the rules on how organizations hunt, detect and respond to threats. Siemplify's platform enables Security Operation Center analysts to manage responses with speed and accuracy and will be integrated into Google Cloud's Chronicle cybersecurity group. Its proven SOAR capability combined with Chronicle's innovative approach will be an important step in improving the tools available to the cyber security industry.”

Siemplify founders: from l. to r. Alon Cohen, Amos Stern and Garry Fatakhov. Photo: Siemplify

Siemplify was founded in 2015 and major customers include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, McAfee, Cisco and some of Israel's leading security companies and start-ups. Co-founder and CEO is Amos Stern, formerly an analyst in the intelligence department of the Israeli Defense Forces, then sales manager of the Cyber & Intelligence division of Elbit Ltd, one of the largest companies in Israel's military-industrial complex. Similar is the professional resume of Siemplify's other co-founder and CEO, Alon Cohen.

Siemplify is not the first company taken over in Israel by the international IT giant. In 2013, Google bought for more than $1 billion Waze Mobile Ltd, the Israeli startup that invented and patented Waze, the street navigation app that provides users with real-time updates on vehicular traffic, now available with iOS and Android platforms. Instead, in 2019, the company Elastifile was acquired for $200 million (processes computer applications for logistics management) and Alooma for $150 million (data processing and transmission company).

On June 22, 2021 was formalized instead the partnership between Google and ThetaRay, a cybersecurity company based in Hod HaSharon to develop artificial intelligence programs and systems "against money laundering" and "international financial transactions of criminal organizations".

There has been no shortage of criticism of Google's relationships with Israeli companies known to be linked to the military-industrial complex. In a document published by The Guardian last October, over 400 Google and Amazon workers complained that computer applications made or used by the two transnational giants would be used to spy on Palestinian activists and human rights defenders or to “directly target Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip.”

”The technology our companies have contracted to build will make the systematic discrimination and displacement carried out by the Israeli military and government even crueler and deadlier for Palestinians,” the workers wrote. “We have watched Google and Amazon aggressively pursue contracts with institutions like the US Department of Defense, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), and state and local police departments. These contracts are part of a disturbing pattern of militarization, lack of transparency and avoidance of oversight;”

In particular, Google and Amazon workers stigmatize the decision to initiate the so-called Nimbus Project by transferring "dangerous computer technology" to Israel. “Project Nimbus is a $1.2bn contract to provide cloud services for the Israeli military and government,” the workers wrote. “This technology allows for further surveillance of and unlawful data collection on Palestinians, and facilitates expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land. This contract was signed the same week that the Israeli military attacked Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – killing nearly 250 people, including more than 60 children.”

“We cannot look the other way, as the products we build are used to deny Palestinians their basic rights, force Palestinians out of their homes and attack Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – actions that have prompted war crime investigations by the international criminal court.” the Google and Amazon workers concluded. “We condemn Amazon and Google’s decision to sign the Project Nimbus contract with the Israeli military and government, and ask them to reject this contract and future contracts that will harm our users. We call on global technology workers and the international community to join with us in building a world where technology promotes safety and dignity for all.”