GCU should not renew the contract with CyberArk
Category: Glasgow Caledonian University
GCU has signed a 3 year long contract with CyberArk in 2023 which is due to run out later this year. This contract had a value of £1,436,210,32. To renew a contract of such high value over such an extended period of time with a company that so openly supports and praises the IDF is a shocking display of the university’s complicity with ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.
CyberArk is an Israeli owned company with deep ties to the IDF. Many executives and board members of CyberArk including their founder, chief customer officer and chief trust officer have served in IDF or other military units in roles relating to cyber security or information technology. Additionally, the company is openly supportive of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, stating: “A small percentage of our team has been called to military reserve duty. Some employees have bravely volunteered. We’re incredibly proud of all our team members and continue to support them and keep them in our hearts and minds” – Matt Cohen (CEO of CyberArk).
This information was found on the official CyberArk services website and demonstrates their public backing of the IDF and what they stand for in the current climate.
Additionally this is overly invasive technology which is able to access your phone even when you are not using the app which is a clear violation of privacy. It can at a minimum access phone battery levels and SIM providers which is unnecessary to providing multi factor authentication or other digital ID services and demonstrates a violation of security good practice of data minimization.
WE WANT GCU TO END THEIR RELATIONSHIP AND CONTRACT WITH CYBERARK!
References:
https://www.cyberark.com/company/leadership/udi-mokady/
https://www.cyberark.com/company/leadership/Shahar-Layani/
https://www.cyberark.com/company/leadership/omer-grossman/
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=OCT489663
https://www.cyberark.com/press/glasgow-caledonian-university-selects-cyberark-to-reduce-identity-security-risk-for-thousands-of-staff-and-students/
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Comments
I would like to address an expected response before it comes in. Anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism. Many Jewish people do not support the state of Israel and condemn the actions being carried out in the name of the Jewish religion. These include holocaust survivors such as Stephen Kapos as well as prominent scholars in the holocaust and genocide such as John Lestrange. To suggest that all Jewish people are zionist is to ascribe a belief to the entire class of Jewish people which is, arguably, anti-semitic. Additionally, I would ask if you think it is Islamophobic to have criticisms of the United Arab Emirates? There are documented human rights abuses as well as evidence they are supporting the genocide in Sudan. If criticisms of the state of Israel is anti-semitic, then surely criticism of the government of the UAE is Islamophobic and also not appropriate. I would argue this is wrong and that criticism of a government are unrelated to the religion that they profess to follow.