Israel cyber group Team8 today announced that it had recruited Adm. (res.) Michael Rogers as a senior advisor. Rogers headed the US National Security Agency (NSA), commanded the US Cyber Command and was chief of the Central Security Service of the US. He resigned the two latter positions last May.
Team8 cofounder and CEO Nadav Zafrir, former commander of IDF Unit 8200, said, "Mike will be an invaluable asset to Team8's company-building model, providing a fountain of knowledge for our existing portfolio companies, for the companies in development and to help identify technology gaps in the marketplace on which future companies could be built."
The announcement of Roger's appointment follows the announcement early this week that Team8 had sold Sygnia, a company that it founded three years ago to help large enterprises respond to cyber attacks, to Singaporean company Temasek for $250 million. The exit is the first for Team8, which was founded four years ago.
Team8 says that Rogers has a broad, strategic, and unique understanding of trends and developments in cyber warfare, a profound knowledge of the world's most advanced aggressive and criminal organizations, and expertise in the world's most advanced technologies and research in innovation for cyber defense. Rogers also has a special understanding of the cyber challenges currently facing private sector concerns and how these challenges will develop in the future.
Rogers will work with both Team8's existing portfolio companies and on the development of new companies. He will also help recruit senior employees for Team8 and the group's companies and formulate strategy for expanding Team8's business in the US. Team8 inaugurated its New York offices in October 2017 on the Nasdaq stage.
"I've worked with the highly talented resources of Unit 8200 in the past and so when I had the opportunity to join Team8, I knew this was a rare and valued opportunity," Rogers said. "Alongside their know-how, foresight and extraordinary capabilities in aligning with leading global organizations, I'm most impressed with how Team8's model brings teams together to solve tangible problems that fundamentally make a difference to how enterprises operate in the face of cyber threats."
Besides, Sygnia, Team8's portfolio includes Claroty, which protects critical infrastructure and industrial companies, and which has completed a $93 million financing round from Siemens, Schneider Electric, and Rockwell; Illusive Networks, which completed a $33 million financing round from Microsoft, Cisco Networks, and Citibank; and Hysolate, which completed a $23 million financing round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Innovation Endeavors. Details of additional companies apparently being formed in the Team8 group have not yet been disclosed.
Team8 is a research, development and cyber company-building group with a customer base and partners spanning the globe and an ability to recruit talent. Team8 was founded in 2014 by Zafrir, chief innovation officer Israel Grimberg, and chief marketing and business development officer Liran Grinberg. The group has raised over $175 million to date and has over 370 employees worldwide. It is now recruiting dozens of employees in Israel.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 18, 2018
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