Siemens VC unit invests in Israel's CyActive cyber security firm

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - CyActive, an Israeli provider of cyber security technology, said on Thursday it has received a strategic investment from the venture capital unit of Germany's Siemens.

Financial details were not disclosed.

CyActive says it can forecast future cyber attacks and offer companies such as utilities detection and prevention.

It applies bio-inspired algorithms combined to predict the ways in which hackers will modify malware to evade existing security measures.

"We see broad potential across major industries and are particularly excited by its approach to securing industrial and utilities assets," said Ralf Schnell, chief executive of the venture capital unit of Siemens.

Schnell said Siemens is currently in the advanced stages of evaluating and testing CyActive's technology. "Once evaluation and integration phases are completed, Siemens is intending to approach its customers worldwide with CyActive technology," he added.

CyActive says that 98 percent of all malware are variants of known versions.

"Hackers will have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to reinvent their entire attack chain," CyActive CEO Liran Tancman told Reuters. "For the first time it would put the burden on the attacker rather than the defender."

Founded in 2013, CyActive said it will use the funding for research and development, expanding marketing and sales and growing its North American presence.

Siemens joins Jerusalem Venture Partners, an Israeli venture capital firm, in investing in CyActive.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Steven Scheer)