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Israel's cyber dimension

DavidSling

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Israel works on ‘digital Iron Dome’ for cyberdefense
Combination of systems aims to put state ‘in a much better place’ against attacks, cybersecurity chief says
BY SHOSHANNA SOLOMON February 1, 2017, 4:41 pm


Israel seeks to create a digital equivalent to the Iron Dome to fend off cyber attacks (Talucho/Flash90)
Israel is working toward creating a “digital equivalent of the Iron Dome” to protect its government, public and private institutions from the increasing intensity of cyberattacks, Eviatar Matania, director general of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, said.

Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system has been used in recent years to intercept and destroy rockets launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip. It has proven highly effective in protecting civilian populations from the rocket threat.

The defense shield Israel would like to install to protect its cyberspace “will not just be one system, but a combination of several systems that together will enable us to be in a much better place” vis-a-vis cyberattacks, Matania said Monday at a briefing with reporters at the CyberTech 2017 Conference in Tel Aviv. “In several years, I think we will be in a much different position, with all the systems working together.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in 2012 that Israel was developing a “digital Iron Dome” system to protect against daily cyberattacks, noting that it would take time.

Some of the systems are already in place, Matania said, like the newly installed Cyber Net, while others are still in the research and development phase, being worked on jointly by government organizations and private industry, he said.


Dr. Eviatar Matania (Courtesy)

The Cyber Net, which Israel is currently piloting, enables Israel’s National CERT (computer emergency response team), based in the southern city of Beersheba, to connect with the cyberdefense teams of both public and private organizations, from all sectors in the economy, to share information about attacks in a bid to avert others.

“One of the most important things in cybersecurity is the sharing of information,” Matania said. “This system combines all of the defenders.”

The Cyber Net is a first step toward the creation of a digital equivalent of the Iron Dome, he said.

Whereas governments is in charge of protecting the country’s borders against threats, and police monitor city streets, at the moment it is up to government institutions and public and private entities to protect themselves from cyberattacks, which are becoming more frequent and greater in intensity.

“You need something at a state level,” Matania said. “And this state level becomes the digital equivalent of the Iron Dome. We are currently developing how to do it,” he said.

At the end of last year, Yahoo suffered the world’s biggest hack to date, in which the company discovered a 3-year-old security breach that enabled a hacker to compromise more than 1 billion user accounts. In 2015 hackers shut down power in Ukraine. In February 2016 more than $80 million was stolen from Bangladesh’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and US intelligence services have blamed Russia for hacking attacks during the 2016 presidential election
campaign.

At any given moment a day, Israel suffers from tens of serious cyberattacks, Matania said. “The equation between attackers and defenders is not balanced,” he said. “It is much easier to attack.”

By developing the right systems, processes and structures, Israel and countries globally will be able to regain the balance and become less vulnerable, he said.

Israel is also formulating legislation that would enable the national CERT to work with organizations and managers at companies to help them monitor and mitigate attacks when these present a danger to the public or the nation, he said. This would be done to help “prevent attacks to spread. We are building legislation to do this,” he said.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-works-on-digital-iron-dome-for-cyberdefense/
 
In Israel, teaching kids cyber skills is a national mission
New training programs aim to prepare children for careers in military intelligence, defense agencies, the high-tech industry and academia
BY DANIEL ESTRIN February 4, 2017, 1:21 pm


BEIT SHEMESH (AP) — In some Israeli schools, fourth-graders learn computer programming while gifted 10th-graders take after-school classes in encryption tactics, coding and how to stop malicious hacking. The country even has two new kindergartens that teach computer skills and robotics.

The training programs — something of a boot camp for cyber defense — are part of Israel’s quest to become a world leader in cybersecurity and cyber technology by placing its hopes in the country’s youth.

To that end, Israel announced this week the establishment of a national center for cyber education, meant to increase the talent pool for military intelligence units and prepare children for eventual careers in defense agencies, the high-tech industry and academia.

“You students need to strengthen us with your curiosity,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an Israeli cyber technologies expo, sitting next to high school students in a training program overseen by the defense establishment. “Your years in the security services will be golden years for the security of the nation.”

Israel has long branded itself the “Cyber Nation” but authorities say they have been facing a shortage of cyber experts to keep up with the country’s defense needs and keep its cybersecurity industry booming.

To build up a wellspring of talent, Israel is starting young: teaching children the basic building blocks of the web.


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Cybertech Israel Conference and Exhibition, in Tel Aviv, January 31, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

“In the first grade, they learn the letters, then how to read and how to write. We are building the next level of knowledge — how to code,” said Sagy Bar of the Rashi Foundation, a philanthropic group running the cyber education center as a joint venture with Israel’s defense establishment and academic institutions.

The center will also oversee educational programs launched in recent years, including the Education Ministry’s Gvahim pilot program that introduced computer and robotic classes to the fourth-grade curriculum in 70 schools, and the after-school Magshimim program, which trains talented high-schoolers from underprivileged areas in college-level cyber skills.

Drawing youth into the highly technical field of cybersecurity is not a novelty, and the United States and Britain have implemented similar training programs.

The National Security Agency, America’s global surveillance and intelligence agency, co-sponsors free cybersecurity summer camps throughout the US for students and teachers from kindergarten through high school. The GenCyber program seeks to improve cybersecurity teaching in schools as early as kindergarten.

GCHQ, the UK’s powerful signals intelligence agency, has a host of youth outreach initiatives, including an annual competition for amateurs and youngsters at dramatic venues such as Winston Churchill’s World War II-era bunker under central London.


Students sit in the library at Branco Weiss School in Beit Shemesh that offers classes that specialize in intelligence studies in cooperation with the IDF Military intelligence unit on April 4, 2011. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

In 2015, the competition invested in whizz kid-friendly puzzle games — including a specially designed Minecraft level — to pique children’s interest. Also, GCHQ is trying to bridge the gender gap and last month announced a national cybersecurity challenge for schoolgirls aged 13 to 15.

In Israel, the two cyber training programs feed Israel’s vaunted military intelligence Unit 8200, which intercepts digital communications and collects intelligence on Israel’s enemies across the Middle East — the Israeli equivalent of America’s NSA.

Many members of the unit eventually move on to Israel’s high-tech and cybersecurity industries. Some of the most successful technology companies have been founded by the unit’s veterans.

Military service is compulsory for most Jewish high school graduates in Israel, giving military intelligence the power to enlist the country’s best and brightest.

For military intelligence, it’s a win-win situation.

“Israeli talent comes mandatorily to the army,” Col. R, deputy head of Unit 8200, told The Associated Press over the phone.

The colonel, who could only be identified by her first initial under military regulations, said Unit 8200 is trying to encourage more girls to study computer sciences and eventually join the unit as “cyberists.”


Students raise their hands to answer a question on April 4, 2011 at the Branco Weiss School in Beit Shemesh which offers classes that specialize in intelligence studies in cooperation with the IDF Military intelligence unit. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

In the Magshimim program, applicants must first pass a home quiz of riddles and challenges involving math, logic and algorithms. Previous computer expertise is not needed, and they can even look up answers online or ask a parent for help. The idea is to recruit students who are not intimidated by challenges, organizers say.

Those accepted to the program meet twice a week after school for three-hour classes, complete 10 hours of cyber-related homework a week, and participate in workshops twice a year.

During a recent workshop for 10th-graders at a school in the central city of Beit Shemesh, a group of 15 religious Jewish girls attended a lecture on artificial intelligence. One of the girls was knitting an orange yarmulke during class.

In a darkened classroom across the hall, a group of teens in sweatshirts and sweatpants hunched over laptops, playing a simulation game: a fictional network of computers had been hacked, and they had 45 minutes to learn an unfamiliar computer code, regain control of the network, and hack into the hacker’s system to determine his identity.

“I broke in!” a student suddenly exclaimed. The fictional hacker was a popular cartoon character.

Glued to his computer, 16-year-old Shalev Goodman said he hopes to use his cyber skills in military intelligence when he enlists.

“I’m not the most athletic person,” he said. “I do want to give something to the country. So cyber is a good thing to do.”


Cadets in the IDF Cyber Defense Unit course, June 10, 2013 (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)

Program leaders say cyber ethics are enforced — students who use their skills to hack would not be accepted into the military and would likely ruin their future in the cyber industry.

But once in the army, the definition of ethics can become blurred. In 2014, a group of reservists in Unit 8200 signed a letter protesting its role in surveillance of Palestinians.

One of the soldiers said the unit was sometimes asked to perform ethically questionable tasks, like spying on Palestinians uninvolved in violence.

“It feels a bit like a game, like a cool computer game,” said Gilad, who could only give his first name because Israel’s military censor has prohibited the protesters from revealing their full identity.

During his compulsory army service, Gilad said he worked part time in programming. “You develop apathy, moral numbness … You are far away from the target,” he recounted of those days.

Still, the computer skills Gilad gained while in the army helped him get his current job in the high-tech industry, he said.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-israel-teaching-kids-cyber-skills-is-a-national-mission/


links for another threads of mine that fall under the subject
https://defence.pk/threads/exclusiv...israel-security-agency-cyber-division.473139/
https://defence.pk/threads/idf-to-invest-billions-in-cyber-operations.470182/
https://defence.pk/threads/israel-eases-cyber-sales-restrictions.461184/
https://defence.pk/threads/israeli-missile-boats-reinforced-against-cyber-attacks.461125/
https://defence.pk/threads/iai-signs-a-strategic-cyber-deal-in-asia.459709/
https://defence.pk/threads/israel-to-assist-nigeria-in-combating-cyber-crime.459707/
https://defence.pk/threads/idf-cybe...ers-in-game-of-thrones-inspired-world.450663/
https://defence.pk/threads/us-israel-to-sign-agreement-to-cooperate-in-cyber-defense.436243/
https://defence.pk/threads/what-israel-could-teach-the-u-s-about-cyber-security.423031/
https://defence.pk/threads/about-the-nature-of-cyber-warfare.418986/
https://defence.pk/threads/israel-air-force-cyber-security.418835/
https://defence.pk/threads/israel-beersheva-goes-cyber.411568/

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