Israeli Cybersecurity Think Tank Team8 Announces New NYC Headquarters at its Annual Rethink Cyber Event at the NASDAQ

TEL AVIV, Israel, October 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Team8, Israel's leading cybersecurity think tank and company creation platform, announced last night at its annual Rethink Cyber event the opening of a New York City hub. Similar to the company's offices in Israel, Team8's New York headquarters will bring Team8 and its portfolio companies together in one space, replicating its strength while allowing the group to better service its customers, deepen industry partnerships and identify new opportunities.

"To have one of the world's forward-thinking cyber companies in NYC is a major win for our community," said Miguel Gamiño, Jr., New York City Chief Technology Officer. "Team8's NYC HQ will add jobs to our economy and provide us with opportunities to advance NYC as a cybersecurity hub while strengthening our City's resilience."

Along with the opening of the NYC offices, Team8 CEO and Co-Founder Nadav Zafrir is relocating to New York to lead the company's US operations.

The hub will include Team8 and its companies Illusive Networks and Claroty, both of which have hit maturity and are now focusing on deepening existing customer relationships and creating new ones. Illusive Networks specializes in deception technology used to detect targeted attacks, while Claroty's industrial security platform secures and optimizes critical industrial infrastructure sites such as power grids, steel mills, chemical, food and beverage sites and oil refineries.

Additionally, Team8 recently launched Sygnia, an elite military-grade cyber consulting and incident response company that works with organizations to contain and defeat threats within their networks, will also base its US operations out of the new offices.

Team8 and its companies will continue to run all R&D from Israel.

"Despite being geographically isolated, Israel is known throughout the world for its unique ability to develop some of the most sophisticated and effective cyber defense platforms in the industry," said Zafrir. "The opening of our NYC headquarters will allow Team8 to help close this geographic gap, bringing game-changing technologies to the doorstep of the most important and influential companies in the US, many of whom are constantly faced with challenging and dangerous cyber incidents and attacks."

Team8 combines strategic thinking with cutting-edge interdisciplinary technological and go-to market capabilities, all run by Israel's brightest talent from the IDF's elite intelligence unit, 8200 (Israel's NSA). Bringing decades of collective experience in cyber intelligence, Team8 was founded by veterans of Unit 8200; Nadav Zafrir (former Brig. Gen. of Unit 8200), Israel Grimberg (former head of its cyber division) and Liran Grinberg (former distinguished officer) who have first access to an evergreen flow of top Unit 8200 alumni, many of whom independently are responsible for Israel's startup nation and flourishing technology ecosystem.

Yesterday, Team8, in partnership Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors hosted its third annual Rethink Cyber event in NYC at Nasdaq MarketSite, featuring cyber security experts including former NSA Director, Keith Alexander, former FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce, the chief technology officer of the city of New York, the chief information security officers of Nasdaq, New York City, Comcast and Colgate, the chief innovation officer of IBM and executive security leads at Intel, Accenture and Citi.  Rethink Cyber is Team8's thought leadership initiative bringing dynamic perspectives and insights on the industry from world leading experts. It takes place in Tel Aviv, New York, Singapore, London and San Francisco.

The following quotes from the event can be used for publication:

Commenting on how to combat cyber threats, Bob Blakely, Global Head of Information Security Innovation at Citi, said: "We need to synchronize our watches with the enemy and identity what is day zero. Deception minefields make the enemy move slower and force them to be detected further away from their objective. The best place to have a minefield is everywhere because it makes the enemy move really slowly."  

Commenting on how to prepare for critical infrastructure cyber threats, Ironnet Cybersecurity CEO and President and Former NSA Director General Keith Alexander said: "No government agency and no country can do it by themselves - it's all about the partnership. We need the ability to see what is going on in our critical infrastructure and a way to share that with others."

Commenting on the role of the CISO, Myrna Soto, Corporate SVP and Global CISO at Comcast, said: "Not being the bad guy means we as security professionals need to understand the needs of our business. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) role is about protecting the brand and keeping the customer confidence high."

About Team8: 

Team8, Israel's most prestigious cybersecurity think tank and venture creation foundry, 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 Ventures, Cisco, AT&T, Accenture, Qualcomm, Nokia, Citigroup, 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
[email protected]
+972-54-467-6950

SOURCE Team8