Israeli security startup RealEye, founded in 2022 by Kevin Cohen, Lt. Col. (ret.) Roy Zinman and Yasha Neiman, has developed a unique intelligence gathering tool capable of identifying threats and potential risks for countries. The startup is sustained by a government venture capital fund and has already proven itself worldwide.
Based in Tel Aviv, RealEye has developed Fortress, a profiling tool using advanced OSINT (open source intelligence) and WEBINT technologies designed to quickly detect, identify and mitigate threats, fraudulent activities and suspicious activities.
The Israeli company has raised a total of $1.1 million "to provide data-driven insights to prison and immigration authorities, intelligence agencies as well as the army," the company said .
The challenge is very hard, and based on identifying radicalized people who represent a real physical threat.
“Our goal is to address the distinctive online networks that play a role in radicalization and to prevent people with dangerous behavior,” said Kevin Cohen.
"We deal with terrorism related to internal security, human rights but also Palestinian advocacy for activities affiliated with BDS leaders. Journalists, bloggers, or influencers are paid to participate in a scheme in which they are supported by Iranian and Russian state media agencies from Qatar or Turkey and encouraged to enter Israel. We also monitor the visa application process to identify anomalies, fraud and threats,” says Kevin Cohen.
The company also uses advanced AI models to distinguish between harmless and malicious online behavior. By exposing these hidden structures, companies like RealEye can enable governments and civil society organizations to quickly detect potential dangers.
The challenge is accentuated by the emergence of “second generation radical profiles”, declared the company’s management. These people often come from stable backgrounds and their radicalization follows exposure to extremist discourse online.
"Outside of Israel, we monitor insider threats, which means we work with the military and secret services to obtain personal information. Our technology collects, analyzes and correlates millions of pieces of data from the web. We use algorithms of unsupervised ML to classify datasets and uncover unbiased and hidden insights,” explains Kevin Cohen
RealEye also helps authorities prevent suspicious or unwanted entry into Israeli territory.
In 2017, Israel adopted a controversial policy that refuses entry to anyone advocating a boycott against it, positioning itself as one of the few democracies to impose such restrictive criteria based on political beliefs.
As a result, Ariel Gold, an American activist affiliated with the Code Pink movement, was banned from entering Israel. She claimed she had planned to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but was turned away at the airport because of her advocacy against Israeli policies. Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch director for Israel and Palestine, also suffered the same fate. Accused of supporting the BDS movement, he was expelled despite international outcry and legal challenges.
RealEye's commitment to the highest standards of moral responsibility is the foundation of its mission.
Caroline Haïat
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