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Other countries can learn lessons from these twentysomething veterans
Reporters' notebook
National Lottery operator hit by cyber attack
Israel is now a mini-Silicon Valley close to Europe © Eyal Warshavsky
by: Frederick Studemann
The photo in the reception area tells it all. In the background is a new office block, its outside studded with the logos of its tenants. Running up to it is a dirt track littered with construction debris, and walking across the foreground is a group of camels being herded out of shot by their keeper.
Three years on, the cyber park in the city of Beer Sheva in the Negev desert is a growing cluster of buildings, neatly tarmacked roads and waterways. The roll-call of corporates — from Deutsche Telekom and EMC to Lockheed and PayPal — has grown. And the camels live on, in the anecdotes of the venture capitalists, computer engineers and academics now gathered in the centre of Israel’s world-class cyber security industry. They serve as a vivid example of just how far and how fast things have come in a city that has been through many iterations over the millennia, including that of water station, whose wells were said to have been dug by Abraham and Isaac.
It is a world away from the barracks of some chilly military installation in central Europe where, but for a twist of fate, I might have ended up. And yet I found myself thinking of such a place as we sat through presentations of cutting-edge research aimed at anticipating, and then thwarting, the actions of cyber aggressors. The reason lay in one of the key ingredients of the success of Beer Sheva: the Israel Defense Forces, who, together with the local university and outside investors, form a formidable combination that draws money and talent to what some dub a mini-Silicon Valley close to Europe.
The role of the military in the development of the internet is well known. In Beer Sheva, it is less the hardware that is striking than the young, human capital of highly trained former conscripts. Many of those working in the tech companies and start-ups are veterans of the IDF. “They are in their early 20s, well trained and at that stage in life where they don’t have responsibilities and are up for taking a risk,” explains one venture capitalist and investor.
The city of Beer Sheva
Listening to him, I thought back to the day a few decades ago when I received a summons from the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, to an “assessment” for military service. My reaction was one of ambivalence. While the prospect of being square-bashed in some barracks in Upper Bavaria held little attraction — I had done the best part of a decade in English boarding schools, so felt I had served my time — I was no conscientious objector. Older cousins related mixed experiences. One had a great time in the Alpine corps, which seemed to be a glorified skiing party; another was bored to tears keeping an eye on supplies in the quartermasters’ unit.
Everyone spoke of the boredom and the mindless drinking. The notion that conscription might be a useful experience that would set one up for life seemed fanciful. It was probably something best got over and done with — in a quick march.
In the event my date with destiny never came because, at the time of the call-up, I was in higher education. I doubt I would have made a good impression. Multiple ear-piercings, ripped jeans and a T-shirt emblazoned with “Arm The Unemployed” did not shriek willing recruit. By the time I graduated I was dismissed as surplus to requirements: my age cohort was a big one and the Bundeswehr had taken its fill. Besides, as a foreign-born citizen I was probably a bit dodgy anyway. Not long thereafter the Berlin Wall fell and with it one of the reasons underpinning conscription.
The wider societal benefits of conscription were always a subject of heated debate, even during the cold war. Critics saw it as a waste of time and money for all involved. Far better to focus on those who really did want to serve. Over time, most western countries have scrapped conscription. In the case of Germany it stopped five years ago. At the time there was some debate about the loss to wider society, not least due to the ending of welfare services provided by conscientious objectors who did not don a uniform.
In Beer Sheva I wondered whether the point had been slightly missed. As countries fret about how to develop the skills needed to thrive in the digital age, Israel seems to have found the answer in an old (if not uncontroversial) solution.
frederick.studemann@ft.com
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
https://www.ft.com/content/107fc5be-b562-11e6-ba85-95d1533d9a62
@Penguin @500 @Natan @Archdemon @GBU-28 @F-15I @mike2000 is back @Blue Marlin @Mountain Jew @Beny Karachun @Adir-M
Reporters' notebook
National Lottery operator hit by cyber attack
Israel is now a mini-Silicon Valley close to Europe © Eyal Warshavsky
by: Frederick Studemann
The photo in the reception area tells it all. In the background is a new office block, its outside studded with the logos of its tenants. Running up to it is a dirt track littered with construction debris, and walking across the foreground is a group of camels being herded out of shot by their keeper.
Three years on, the cyber park in the city of Beer Sheva in the Negev desert is a growing cluster of buildings, neatly tarmacked roads and waterways. The roll-call of corporates — from Deutsche Telekom and EMC to Lockheed and PayPal — has grown. And the camels live on, in the anecdotes of the venture capitalists, computer engineers and academics now gathered in the centre of Israel’s world-class cyber security industry. They serve as a vivid example of just how far and how fast things have come in a city that has been through many iterations over the millennia, including that of water station, whose wells were said to have been dug by Abraham and Isaac.
It is a world away from the barracks of some chilly military installation in central Europe where, but for a twist of fate, I might have ended up. And yet I found myself thinking of such a place as we sat through presentations of cutting-edge research aimed at anticipating, and then thwarting, the actions of cyber aggressors. The reason lay in one of the key ingredients of the success of Beer Sheva: the Israel Defense Forces, who, together with the local university and outside investors, form a formidable combination that draws money and talent to what some dub a mini-Silicon Valley close to Europe.
The role of the military in the development of the internet is well known. In Beer Sheva, it is less the hardware that is striking than the young, human capital of highly trained former conscripts. Many of those working in the tech companies and start-ups are veterans of the IDF. “They are in their early 20s, well trained and at that stage in life where they don’t have responsibilities and are up for taking a risk,” explains one venture capitalist and investor.
The city of Beer Sheva
Listening to him, I thought back to the day a few decades ago when I received a summons from the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, to an “assessment” for military service. My reaction was one of ambivalence. While the prospect of being square-bashed in some barracks in Upper Bavaria held little attraction — I had done the best part of a decade in English boarding schools, so felt I had served my time — I was no conscientious objector. Older cousins related mixed experiences. One had a great time in the Alpine corps, which seemed to be a glorified skiing party; another was bored to tears keeping an eye on supplies in the quartermasters’ unit.
Everyone spoke of the boredom and the mindless drinking. The notion that conscription might be a useful experience that would set one up for life seemed fanciful. It was probably something best got over and done with — in a quick march.
In the event my date with destiny never came because, at the time of the call-up, I was in higher education. I doubt I would have made a good impression. Multiple ear-piercings, ripped jeans and a T-shirt emblazoned with “Arm The Unemployed” did not shriek willing recruit. By the time I graduated I was dismissed as surplus to requirements: my age cohort was a big one and the Bundeswehr had taken its fill. Besides, as a foreign-born citizen I was probably a bit dodgy anyway. Not long thereafter the Berlin Wall fell and with it one of the reasons underpinning conscription.
The wider societal benefits of conscription were always a subject of heated debate, even during the cold war. Critics saw it as a waste of time and money for all involved. Far better to focus on those who really did want to serve. Over time, most western countries have scrapped conscription. In the case of Germany it stopped five years ago. At the time there was some debate about the loss to wider society, not least due to the ending of welfare services provided by conscientious objectors who did not don a uniform.
In Beer Sheva I wondered whether the point had been slightly missed. As countries fret about how to develop the skills needed to thrive in the digital age, Israel seems to have found the answer in an old (if not uncontroversial) solution.
frederick.studemann@ft.com
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
https://www.ft.com/content/107fc5be-b562-11e6-ba85-95d1533d9a62
@Penguin @500 @Natan @Archdemon @GBU-28 @F-15I @mike2000 is back @Blue Marlin @Mountain Jew @Beny Karachun @Adir-M
