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GLOBAL CYBER POWERHOUSE A NEW BOOK CHARTS ISRAEL'S RISE IN THE FIELD BY ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN, ISRAEL21C VIA JNS.ORG
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t is not by chance that 40 percent of all private cyber investments in the world are in Israeli companies, and that a third of the world’s unicorn cyber companies — private startups worth at least $1 billion — are Israeli. Cybermania: How Israel Became a Global Powerhouse in an Arena That Shapes the Future of Mankind gives an expert view of how Israel became a leading country in the field, and among the first to recognize the magnitude of the cyber revolution. “Today, cyber accounts for 15 percent of Israeli high-tech exports, which is about half of the total exports of the State of Israel, and it will only grow,” according to the book’s lead author, professor Eviatar Matania. “These are amazing numbers, but they do not show the whole picture. After all, there are metrics that cannot be measured, such as defense capabilities. Within a decade, Israel has become a very significant player in the new cybersecurity and cybereconomy arena,” he said. Matania is founding head and former director general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate, a member of Tel Aviv University’s Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center and head of TAU’s International MA programs in cyber-politics and government and in security studies. He is also an adjunct professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. Matania’s coauthor, Amir Rapaport, founded Israel Defense 20
L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022
magazine and its global Cybertech conferences, that began in 2014. Matania said although Israel leads in various indices of technology and security, it’s always in relative terms, i.e., per capita or by relative size — except when it comes to cyber. “For example, Israel is strong in academic publications per capita, or in the percentage of national expenditure on research and development. But when looking at absolute numbers, it is clear that other countries like the U.S. and China overshadow us by a considerable margin in absolute investment in research and development,” he said. “In cyber, on the other hand, Israel is a global powerhouse in absolute numbers: 40 percent of all private investments in the world in cyber reach Israel, and every third unicorn company is Israeli. It’s a unique phenomenon,” he said. The book, from Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir Publishers and soon to be published in English, is based on Matania’s experience as head of the National Cyber Directorate and later as director of the National Cyber Security Authority in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2012 until 2018. “The tipping point of Israel’s journey to become a cyber-power was a visit by then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Unit 8200 in 2010,” said Matania, referring to an elite military intelligence unit. “Netanyahu was astonished by what he heard from the soldiers. He understood that the new world of cyber posed an extraordinary risk to Israel, as the country would be vulnerable to attacks from
