Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has become the latest among Canada’s Big Five banks to tap into cybersecurity expertise in Israel.
RBC announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with BGN Technologies, the technology transfer company of Ben-Gurion University (BGU) in Israel. RBC will be investing $2 million into research at BGU’s Cyber-Security Research Center to support the development of adversarial artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning-based cybermitigation techniques.
In December 2017, Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia announced it had teamed up with an Israeli think tank and incubator known as Team8 to increase its access to Israel’s world-class cybersecurity sector; and in October 2017, Toronto-Dominion Bank opened a new cybersecurity office in Tel Aviv to attract from a deep pool of talent coming from local universities and the Israeli military.
As cybersecurity risks increase, banks have begun to place greater focus on AI and machine learning to provide complex tasks such as automatic personal assistant, facial and speech recognition, as well as fraud, malware and cyber issue detection. This research collaboration is designed to enhance protection methods and evaluate the resilience of current AI and machine learning techniques.
“In today’s incredibly complex world, we need advanced technology like AI and machine learning to continue developing leading-edge cybersecurity,” said Martin Wildberger, executive vice president of technology and operations at RBC, in a statement. “This partnership will help support our cyberdefence by working with prominent experts in the field.”
Added Danny Shtaier, high-tech business development at BGN Technologies, in a statement: “This partnership provides our researchers with the opportunity to further apply their leadership in cybersecurity research to the banking industry, where security is crucial for daily operations and the safety of customers.”