PayPal sets up cyber security centre in Israel and buys startup CyActive
Online payments company PayPal yesterday announced it was establishing a cyber security centre in Beersheba, Israel, and has bought local startup CyActive to help to launch the development.
PayPal, which is due to be spun off from eBay later this year, did not disclose financial details, but Israeli media have said the purchase was worth $60m (£40.15m). However, PayPal’s chief technology officer and senior vice president of payment services James Barrese said that price was “speculative.”
The security centre will tap into the country’s bigger pool of online security expertise, PayPal’s existing operations in the country and other potential acquisitions.
“The creation of the security center is an extension of the capabilities we have already developed through the success of our fraud and risk detection centre in Tel Aviv,” Barrese wrote in a blog.
As with many other security specialists in Israel, CyActive’s co-founders, Liran Tancman and Shlomi Boutnaru have roots in Israel’s military intelligence.
CyAvtive’s area of expertise is in predicting malware before it hits a network, and then helping firms better prepare for it.