This is the first in-depth study of a remarkable story, how Israel, the “startup nation”, geared up to address the unprecedented cyber threat it faces and in the process became one of the world’s top cyber powers. The book is designed both for the uninitiated, for whom this may be a first significant exposure to the cyber threat , as well as cyber professionals, for whom Israel has become a world leader to be studied and emulated.
Israel is subject to a nearly constant daily barrage of cyber attacks from Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and beyond, at times even from close allies. Virtually every possible computer system in Israel, civil and military, has been targeted. A successful attack on Israel’s electric grid, or communications and transportation systems, could not only shut down the country, but expose it to severe military peril.
The book presents the cyber threat Israel faces, the governmental institutions it has established to cope with it, the remarkable cyber security industry it has developed, second only to the United States, and the educational system it has established, from elementary school through university, to train the highly skilled technological manpower needed. The book further addresses the threat on the military level and the role of cyber in Israel’s military strategy, including the famous “Stuxnet” cyber attack, conducted together with the US, which destroyed thousands of Iranian nuclear centrifuges without firing a shot.
