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Atlanta Mayor Visits BGU

March 27, 2015

Homeland & Cyber Security

The Jerusalem Post — A delegation from the state of Georgia, including Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, is seeking to boost ties with Beer-Sheva in the field of cyber security.

BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, M.D. meets with Mayor Kasim Reed on BGU's Marcus Family Campus in Beer-Sheva

BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, M.D. meets with Mayor Kasim Reed on BGU’s Marcus Family Campus in Beer-Sheva

Israel has put a focus on making Beer-Sheva its “cyber capital,” building an Advanced Technologies Park that houses cyber security companies there, and coordinating with Ben-Gurion University, which offers a graduate degree in cyber security. Israel is planning on moving IDF bases and strategic high-tech units into the area as well.

Mayor Reed told BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi that he had aspirations for enhancing Atlanta’s cyber security ecosystem.

“We want to turn Atlanta into the cyber center of the southeastern United States. We brought officials from the municipal and state levels to see the ‘best in class,’ which shows the respect we have for what you built,” says Mayor Reed.

In Georgia as a whole, a similar move is under way. The U.S. Army cyber command is based in Augusta, with 1,900 people already working and another 1,400 expected in the next 2 years, plus an NSA encryption center.

“Augusta is starting to become similar to Beer-Sheva because the army and NSA have put their cyber security bases there,” says Ronen Kenan, Georgia’s representative in Israel.

Georgia, he says, is a hub for data centers; about 25 percent of worldwide IT security revenue is generated by Georgia companies.

The Georgia delegation hopes not just to emulate Beer-Sheva or garner investment, but also to strengthen bidirectional ties and explore the possibility of joint cooperation further down the line.

Read more on The Jerusalem Post website >>