Written by Shaun Waterman

Israel’s cyber defense agency will join the U.S. cyber-threat information-sharing initiative run by the Department of Homeland Security under a deal inked between the two nations this week.

“What we have experienced in the cyber world is [that] to go it alone is a very precarious endeavor, but to work together makes us all stronger and creates an ecosystem that will best protect us,” said Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in remarks at an international cybersecurity conference Monday — a transcript of which was released Wednesday by DHS.

On Tuesday, according to a release from DHS, he signed a letter of intent with the Israeli National Cyber Bureau that will “enhance cyber security information sharing between DHS and Israel’s National Cyber Security Authority.”

A statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal would make Israel “among the first countries in the world to join the DHS Automated Indicator Sharing initiative,” an automated platform that distributes throughout the private sector in near real-time indicators of compromise submitted by U.S. agencies and companies

The deal “expresses the vital nature of an international integration of forces in order to more effectively deal with joint threats in the cyber sphere,” according to the statement.

“The letter builds upon the significant progress both countries have made over the last year to further cyber security collaboration,” according to the DHS statement. “DHS and the National Cyber Security Authority identified specific priorities for future cooperation related to information sharing, including Israel’s intent to join automated sharing of cyber threat indicators.

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