Draft Guide to Cyber Threat Information Sharing

Israel’s Antitrust Authority published for public comments draft guidelines on information sharing between competitors for the purpose of contending with cyber threats. 

In certain circumstances, information sharing between competitors may constitute a restrictive trade practice under the Restrictive Trade Practices Law.

However, information sharing between commercial entities in Israel to defend against cyber threats and to protect the State’s essential infrastructure is extremely important. Thus, the Antitrust Commissioner has decided to clarify its position in this regard.

The draft presents guidelines for analyzing the competitive nature of information sharing. It also provides criteria for evaluating information sharing arrangements. This will increase certainty for entities wanting to take part in cybersecurity information sharing schemes, without concern about violating provisions of the Restrictive Trade Practices Law.

The draft guidelines define two criteria for cybersecurity information sharing.

The first focuses on the type of information exchanged within the scope of information sharing. The draft guidelines clarify that, insofar as the information exchanged is necessary for the purposes of increasing cybersecurity, and provided it has no bearing on the parties’ business activities, then no concern will arise about any coordination of commercial activities between competing entities.

The second focuses on the effects of denying access to cybersecurity information sharing schemes from a competitor. Since cybersecurity information provides valuable information to entities operating in a relevant sector or market, preventing access to such schemes is liable to impair entities’ competitive capabilities and raise the entry barriers to the market. It may even prevent new entities from entering a market, thus constituting a restrictive arrangement by itself.

For the link to the draft guidelines (in Hebrew), click here.

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