Cloud Security Alliance and the Israel National Cyber Directorate Sign Memorandum of Understanding

Parties will work together to strengthen cloud security awareness and preparedness across Israel and cloud security sector

SEATTLE – Oct. 27, 2022 – The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a global not-for-profit dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, and the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD), the state body in charge of defending Israel's national cyber space from cyber threats, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) through which both parties will collaborate to increase cloud security awareness and preparedness across Israel, as well as address the issues and challenges present in today’s cloud market.

“We are excited to be partnering with the Israel National Cyber Directorate as we work together to address some of the most pressing challenges and issues facing cloud security today,” said Jim Reavis, co-founder and CEO, Cloud Security Alliance. “As a leader in the cybersecurity space, Israel understands the importance of establishing a safe and secure cyberspace for a country’s continued growth and economic development. I am confident that together we will be able to create a more secure cloud market.”

“In working with the Cloud Security Alliance, we are furthering our mission of defending Israel’s nation cyberspace as well as making significant contributions to the global cloud security market,” said Gaby Portnoy, Director General of Israel National Cyber Directorate.

As part of the agreement, CSA's Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM), which has already been translated into Hebrew, will be incorporated into INCD's recommendations set of cloud security controls.

The CSA STAR Registry is a publicly accessible registry of approximately 2,000 providers that documents the security and privacy controls provided by popular cloud computing offerings. STAR encompasses the key principles of transparency, rigorous auditing, and harmonization of standards outlined in the Cloud Control Matrix (CCM), the industry’s de facto standard for cloud security assurance and compliance. Publishing to the registry allows organizations to show current and potential customers their security and compliance posture, including the regulations, standards, and frameworks to which they adhere.

The MoU is the first step toward a possible additional collaboration, which could see joint research and the development of additional best practices, and eventually, the creation of a Cloud Security Center of Excellence in Israel.

About Israel National Cyber Directorate
The Israel National Cyber Directorate is the national operational and technological agency responsible for defending Israel’s national cyberspace and for establishing and advancing Israel’s cyber power. The Directorate operates at the national level to constantly strengthen the level of defense of organizations and citizens, to prevent and handle cyberattacks and to strengthen emergency response capabilities. As part of its roles, the Directorate advances innovative cyber solutions and forward-looking technological solutions, formulates strategies and policies in the national and international arenas and develops its cyber manpower. The Directorate strives to maintain a protected, safe and open cyberspace for all of Israel’s citizens and to facilitate the State of Israel’s growth and power base. For more information, visit https://www.gov.il/en/departments/israel_national_cyber_directorate/govil-landing-page.

About Cloud Security Alliance
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, training, certification, events, and products. CSA's activities, knowledge, and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud — from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs, and the assurance industry — and provide a forum through which different parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.