FEATURE STORY
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SECURING SMARTPHONES ASSAC NETWORKS QUIETLY KEEPS COMPANIES, GOVERNMENTS AND SECURITY FORCES SECURE BY YAAKOV LAPPIN, JNS.ORG
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n recent weeks, the Israeli spyware program Pegasus and its maker, NSO, were at the center of a firestorm of media reports alleging misuse of this powerful tool by clients. However, another Israeli cyber company that delivers advanced cyber defenses worldwide tends to maintain a much quieter media presence. Assac Networks protects smartphones from both hacking and tapping, and the fact that it does both at the same time (a rarity in the market) has made it a “go-to” cyber-defense provider for security forces, government and defense organizations, and companies worldwide. Banks, fintech companies, cell-phone providers and government clients spanning Spain, Singapore, Mexico, Italy and many other states are among Assac’s clientele. Shimon Zigdon, an encryption expert with 25 years of experience in the telecommunications security sector, founded the company and serves as CEO. “For all of my adult life, I have dealt with encryption,” Zigdon, who was previously a communications security manager at Elbit Ground Systems, said. After leaving Elbit in 2012 to set up Assac (which comes from the Hebrew word Hazak, meaning “strong”), Zigdon felt it was time to create a level of cyber defense for phones that could deal with the everincreasing sophisticated threats. As Assac’s product spread around the world, it sometimes found itself in the same markets that NSO was operating in, only Assac was selling a powerful cyber shield rather than a sword. 24
L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2021
In 2017, Assac carried out a project in Mexico, securing the Mexican Naval Infantry Corps (the Marina), as NSO reportedly sold its spyware to the Mexican military. As cyber hacking and eavesdropping became more and more advanced, said Zigdon, “I understood that if we don’t step up defenses, there will be no place left for encryption in the space of cyber threats.” Conventional smartphone defenses are largely irrelevant, he argued, since high-end attackers break into phones “locally,” meaning that they allow the phone to do the deciphering work, and then simply break and enter into the device and steal its information. This can include anything from camera and microphone data, text communication and using the phone as a launchpad to break into company networks. “As soon as the hack is conducted locally, there is no encryption challenge. It doesn’t matter how well-encrypted the data is on the way to the phone if someone has taken local control of the phone,” he warned. As a result, Assac focuses on defending what it calls the “endpoint” — the smartphone itself — whether it runs on Android or iOS. “We defend the phone as it was bought, off the shelf. We tell our clients to simply bring their own device,” said Zigdon. With so many personnel involved in sensitive work using their home devices for work communications, such as email, the need to secure personal phones is more acute than ever. Zigdon outlined the two main types of threats posed to anyone with a smartphone in their possession: hacking and tapping.
