US official to visit Israel, Middle East with focus on cyberattacks

United States Deputy Treasury Secretary, Wally Adeyemo, will travel to the Middle East on Friday in an effort to build partnerships on cybersecurity, as hackers wreak havoc among the region as well as in the US. 

In the highest-ranking visit of a Treasury official to the Middle East under President Joe Biden, Adeyemo will also seek dialogue on countering terrorist financing and proliferation, Reuters reported.

Adeyemo will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, where he plans to discuss economic recovery following Covid as well. 

"The Deputy Secretary’s visit comes on the heels of a sanctions review that emphasized multilateral coordination on sanctions, as well as the threats posed by emerging technologies like virtual assets," a Treasury spokesperson said.

In Israel, Adeyemo will consider how to focus technology to counter ransomware and other cyber-related threats. 

It is unclear, however, whether he will touch upon the Israeli spyware company NSO Group, which is accused of selling spyware to foreign governments that used its equipment to target government officials and journalists. 

The US Commerce Department added NSO Group to its trade blacklist among such allegations.

Following a series of attacks this year that threatened to destabilize US energy and food supplies, Biden made his government’s cybersecurity response a top priority, according to Reuters.

Hackers use ransomware to dismantle systems that oftentimes control significant networks of a state’s infrastructure, in efforts to acquire ransom money. 

This year, cyber gangs have attacked numerous US companies, such as pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline and an agricultural company.

Also this year, hospitals in Israel suffered a ransomware attack forcing many to shut down technological operations, and a hacker group leaked information on Israel’s defense ministry.