#95 World leader in cyber security

Israel was one of the first countries to set up national Critical Infrastructure Protection CIP or CIIP. In February 2002, the Israel Government passed Resolution B/84, deciding to protect Critical Infrastructure, and assigning the Israel Security Agency (“Shin Bet”) with the task. The National Information Security Authority (NISA ) took upon the task.

Although this CIP model has proven successful, the country’s connectivity and dependency on technology continued to increase, and calls for an improved cyber strategy grew stronger. The discovery of Stuxnet catalyzed the policy processes.

In November 2010, Israeli Prime-Minister Benyamin Netanyahu formally nominated a special taskforce to devise recommendations for a National Cyber Strategy, also known as the “Cyber Initiative”. The team, headed by Major-General (Ret.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel of Tel Aviv University worked for several months, in eight sub-committees manned by dozens of experts. The team examined all the components vital to the need of the State of Israel to cope successfully in cyberspace, including the analysis of national benefits regarding aspects of economy, academy and National security. The “Cyber Initiative” teamwork was concluded in May 2011 and summed-up in a special report dispatched to the Prime Minister.

The team’s main conclusion was that “cyber-attacks should be considered as a substantial potential threat to the functional continuity of the state, its institutions and its citizens”, and that “a central gap has been identified in the cyber defense of the civil sector at large”.

At the core of its report, the team recommended that two bodies be established – namely, a “National Cyber Bureau” and an “executive body for the security of the civil sector” by its side. The team also recommended to set-up a national “cyber defence foil”, comprising automated computerized systems and manned systems, together defending pre-defined computer systems. It also motioned for the establishment of a national CERT. The team indicated that the civil and security components of cyberspace are interlaced and are, to all intents and purposes, inseparable, and that there is a need for a broad national perspective and for an understanding that the preparedness of the State of Israel to the challenges of cyberspace is a national undertaking of the first order.

Following that, in August 2011 the Israeli government passed a resolution to establish the Israeli National Cyber Bureau (INCB), designated to assist the prime minister, the government and its committees in forging a National Cyber Policy and fostering the application of its aspects of National Security. Specifically, the INCB was assigned to develop a national cyber security strategy.

The development of that strategy generated a professional and important discourse on the national level regarding possible ways to establish an operational body responsible for the defense of the civil cyberspace. The need for it has never been in doubt; however, the manner in which this need should be satisfied has been the subject of many discussions and some poignant disputes, and was finally resolved through the government’s decision to establish a civilian body in the Prime Minister’s Office – the NCSA.