Israel: Desert Blooms and So Does Cyber Innovation
By Dr. Amit Elazari and Chuck Brooks, Contributing Authors/ September 25, 2023
Dr. Amit Elazari is the Co-Founder and CEO of OpenPolicy, the world’s first tech-enabled policy intelligence and engagement platform, aiming to democratize access to the future market insights driven by policy and lobbying entities of all sizes. She teaches at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information Master in Information and Cybersecurity, & RUNI, and serves as a member of the External Advisory Committee for the UC Berkeley Center of Long Term Cybersecurity. Amit is also a public speaker, and often keynotes or speaks at global conferences such as RSA Security, BlackHat, CES, and SXSW. Prior to OpenPolicy, she was Head of Global Cybersecurity Policy at Intel Corporation, responsible for shaping and executing Intel’s global security policy and government affairs engagement across all of Intel technologies. In 2023 she chaired the Cybersecurity Policy Committee for the Information Technology Industry Council and the Linux Open Source Security Foundation public policy committee. Amit holds a Doctoral Degree in the Law (J.S.D.) from UC Berkeley School of Law, the world’s leading law institution for technology law, and graduated summa cum laude three prior degrees in law and business. She is the first Israeli LL.M. graduate to be admitted to the doctoral program at Berkeley or any other top U.S. doctoral program in law, on a direct-track basis. She has an extensive background in technical, policy and legal roles, and practiced Hi-tech, Venture Capital and M&A law in one of Israel’s largest law firms GKH-Law. Her research in tech law and policy has appeared in leading technology law and computer science journals, presented at conferences such as RSA and USENIX Security, and featured at leading news sites such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the New York Times. You can find her publications on Google Scholar.
Chuck Brooks, President of Brooks Consulting International, is a globally recognized thought leader and subject matter expert on Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies. LinkedIn named Chuck as one of “The Top 5 Tech People to Follow on LinkedIn.” He was named by Thomson Reuters as a “Top 50 Global Influencer in Risk, Compliance,” and by IFSEC as the “#2 Global Cybersecurity Influencer.” He was featured in the 2020 Onalytica “Who’s Who in Cybersecurity” – as one of the top Influencers for cybersecurity issues. He was also named one of the Top 5 Executives to Follow on Cybersecurity by Executive Mosaic. He is also a Cybersecurity Expert for “The Network” at the Washington Post, Visiting Editor at Homeland Security Today, Expert for Executive Mosaic/GovCon, and a Contributor to FORBES. He has also been a featured author in technology and cybersecurity blogs & events by IBM, AT&T, Microsoft, Cylance, Xerox, Malwarebytes, General Dynamics Mission Systems, and many others. He recently presented to the G20 on Energy Cybersecurity.
Chuck is on the Faculty of Georgetown University where he teaches in the Graduate Applied Intelligence and Cybersecurity Risk Programs. In government, Chuck was a “plank holder” at The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) serving as the first Legislative Director of The Science & Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security. He served as a top Advisor to the late Senator Arlen Specter on Capitol Hill covering security and technology issues on Capitol Hill. He has an M.A from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from DePauw University
Invention Perfected
Israel is not a new country when it comes to invention, but they have perfected it. With the invention of drip irrigation, hydroponics, and genetically engineered crops, Israeli pioneers turned a barren landscape into a flourishing oasis.
Even now, decades later, Israel is innovating and bringing that bold, determined, and entrepreneurial spirit to cybersecurity. Furthermore, their distinct security qualities are being widely acknowledged globally.
Cyber Superpower
During a symposium in Tel Aviv, Gen. David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA, referred to Israel as a “cyber superpower” and stated that the US and Israel’s partnership has enabled them to jointly thwart threats. “The partnership consistently achieves greater heights than what is reported in the media.” Bilateral cooperation is fostering this cyber know-how.
To increase cybersecurity collaboration, the US and Israel signed several cybersecurity memorandums with the Department of Homeland Security last year. The agreement covered cooperation on transportation cybersecurity, preventing the funding of terrorism, and setting up an institutional framework to support cyber-specific research and development.
Collaboration
Both civilian and defense agencies are experiencing it. To promote interoperability in the face of actual threats, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Joint Cyber Defense Division and the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) collaborated to conduct a five-day cyber defense simulation in 2022. During the Cyber Dome VII exercise, which simulated threats at the nation-state level, American and Israeli servicemen and servicewomen collaborated to create a cohesive cyber army. The purpose of this exercise was to provide U.S. and Israeli personnel with experience in cooperation and partnerships to address potential real-world obstacles. It covered full spectrum training, including responding to kinetic and cyber operations. The Successful Model to Build Upon Is the U.S.-Israel Cyber Exercise
Novel Ways
Israel “owes much of its success in the cyber realm to its ability to flip the disadvantages of having a comparatively small budget and few resources into cyber strategy and process advantages that offer lessons in public policy decisions, capacity building processes, and operational capabilities to other states,” according to a Department of Defense analysis of Israel’s contributions to cyberspace published in a journal. Because of this and its unique geostrategic location, Israel has created numerous novel ways to cyber security that can teach the much larger U.S. a few things.
BIRD Cyber
The Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Cyber program is a new cooperative initiative overseen by the BIRD Foundation that aims to improve the cyber resilience of critical infrastructure in both the United States and Israel. It was started by the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in collaboration with the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD). BIRD Cyber will expand on the achievements of the BIRD Homeland Security (HLS) program, which was founded in 2016 in partnership with the Israel Ministry of Public Security and encourage cooperative development of technologies that will benefit both nations. Homeland Security | DHS and Israeli Partners Announce Cybersecurity Collaboration
Cybersecurity Startups
Growing the U.S.-Israel security partnership makes sense on several fronts, including the rate of investment, cooperation, and technical capabilities, backing from the government, and ingenuity. Israel hosts R&D facilities for more than 500 international corporations. According to industry research firm Cybersecurity Ventures, approximately 300 cybersecurity startups operate in Israel, which accounts for about 20% of total global investment. Additionally, Israel’s small, networked economy saw over 7,000 start-ups, which is 14 times more than the number of start-ups per person in Europe.
Robust Investment
In contrast, investment in Israeli cyber remained robust in 2022, despite a worldwide recession that caused investment to slow down elsewhere. This should serve to illustrate the importance and extent of Israeli cybersecurity. According to Start-Up Nation Central (SNC), investments in Israeli cybersecurity startups totaled $27 billion in 2021 and $15.5 billion in 2022. “These numbers show how far Israeli companies have come in the realm of cyber security and how Israel continues to be a hub for emerging companies in the sector.” Israeli solutions in the global cybersecurity ecosystem (itrade.gov.il)
National Security and Cybersecurity
The government’s efforts to encourage cybersecurity and Israel’s emphasis on national security have contributed to the country’s growing cybersecurity. A national center of cyber education was established in Israel in 2017 and currently employs 330 people and has 80 learning locations across the country.6-7 In Israel, there were 459 operational cybersecurity enterprises as of 2021, up from 162 in 2011. Israel’s Cybersecurity: Strengthening Digital Defenses Despite Increasing Risks | Nasdaq
Corporate Collaborations
Israel’s government structure and collaborations with the corporate sector are the sources of its fundamental cybersecurity knowledge. The Israeli National Cyber Directorate (INCD) was formally founded in 2012 by the Prime Minister’s Office as the Cyber Bureau, which is currently in charge of promoting cybersecurity in Israel. The INCD is a national government agency that works to develop cutting-edge technical solutions and creative cyber solutions.
Cyber Ecosystem
Large cyber companies, international corporations with Israeli R&D divisions, startups, and security-related government agencies make up Israel’s cyber ecosystem. The cybersecurity ecosystem’s participants collaborate to develop a collective defense against changing cyberthreats by combining resources and skills.
Innovation and Teamwork
Israel is an expert in several cybersecurity collaboration domains, including incident response, advanced persistent threats, IoT security, network security, vulnerability and risk management, and SCADA security. The growing sophistication of the worldwide threat landscape, which has the potential to seriously affect a nation’s economic sustainability, is strongly correlated with innovation and teamwork.
Unit 8200
Israel is among the countries with the highest per capita levels of education in the world in terms of talent. Furthermore, a lot of Israelis acquire technical skills in security operations, such as cybersecurity, because it is a citizen army. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) boast that Unit 8200 is one of their most esteemed units. The team oversees gathering intelligence on Israel’s adversaries as well as intercepting and gathering digital communications. It has prevented assaults in France, Australia, and other nations in recent months and shared intelligence with friends. Israel’s cyberwarfare relies heavily on Unit 8200 to detect and neutralize threats.
Entrepreneurship and Collaboration
There are a few of the most creative Israeli firms that were once part of Unit 8200. This is not shocking, given the Israeli government promotes entrepreneurship in collaboration with academic institutions, incubators, accelerators, and Israel-based companies. This is a special mode that enables the integration of real-world experience with technology along with application evaluation. Additionally, it attracts businesses to Israel and fosters international cooperation.
As Early as Kindergarten
In Israel, producing competent cybersecurity professionals is likewise a top focus. In Israel, teaching about cybersecurity can begin as early as kindergarten. In certain Israeli schools, gifted tenth students attend after-school programs in coding and encryption techniques, while fourth graders study computer programming. In high schools in Israel, cybersecurity is offered as an elective.
Global Cybersecurity Foundry
Israel has gained recognition as a global cybersecurity foundry due to its unique tech approaches developed from real experiences via the IDF, its early cybersecurity training program, and its ability to bring products to market quickly.
Arab Countries Benefit
Arab countries in the region, such as Morocco, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, are now also benefiting from Israel’s worldwide cooperation. There have been notable developments in UAE-Israeli cyber collaboration because of the Abraham Accords’ success. The UAE’s cyber czar, Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, stated that there is “good information-sharing between us” in an April interview with Haaretz, alluding to both nations’ collaboration in cyber intelligence.
Differentiators
A 2017 Toffler Associates paper titled “The Future of Security and Protection” summed up the situation of international trade and encapsulated Israel’s cybersecurity thinking. The study concludes that “successful organizations understand that innovative approaches are differentiators in a competitive and complex environment and a culture of security and protection begins at the top.”
Making it Bloom
Innovative cooperation, such as that which exists between Israel and the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Asia, is becoming a standard for conducting business successfully in the international arena. In addition to being creative and tech-savvy, it also entails safeguarding security assets in an environment where threats are always evolving. Today, Israel is fostering the growth of the cybersecurity industry and making it bloom.
Special Notice: In March 2024, Skytop Strategies will hold a thought leadership conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, on cybersecurity innovation and cooperation. To learn more, please contact Christopher P. Skroupa, Founder & CEO, at cps@skytopmediagroup.com