Israel Unmatched in Cyber Security: P.M. Netanyahu; Cyber Tech 2019 Israel
Did you know that Israel is leading the way for technology around the world? They are the most innovative nation in the world! Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks from the 2019 Cybertech Conference in Tel-Aviv and shares where Israel is and how much things have changed when it comes to security and technology.
“Israel has been through many changes; just decades ago the world was attacked by hi-jacking planes…” He points out that Israel invented a door that would protect the pilot of the plane from any threat entering the cockpit. Others did not install the door until the attack on September 11, 2001, when America came under a terrorist attack; now every American airplane had this secure door installed.
He continues to speak of how airlines are being attacked in different ways now, instead of physical attacks it is now being done virtually, so planes need virtual doors that provide security. “Our airlines can be attacked a hundred ways. They can be attacked by ground control interference; they can be attacked by the systems within the plane and the communications…It is in many ways right now the most dramatically vulnerable system that we have. But as you know everything today is vulnerable and everything is under attack. I believe that civil aviation is the one area that requires the most immediate treatment for cyber defense, but it’s one of hundreds.
“What we are in the midst of right now is a change…it is a shift from the old world to the new world.” He shows the top ten businesses from ten years ago in Israel which is in the image below, and it was mostly energy companies.
Next, he points out that ten years later the top ten companies are now seven IT companies! “All of these top ten companies have major research centers in Israel! These (in the image above) are some of the 300 that do. For some of them, these research centers are the most advanced outside of their home country.” Prime Minister Netanyahu asks why this is happening, and it is because Israel leads the world in investing in R & D and they have the highest percentage of R & D personnel.
“This revolution that you are seeing from 2007 to 2017 is a revolution that is changing our world both economically and in terms of security. I think it will also change our politics. What it is, is the meeting ground between big data, AI, and connectivity. Everything is being driven from this nexus…for example, new industries are being formed.” The first new industry is cybersecurity.
He continues to share how Israel’s cyber industry is growing. “In 2014 we were 10% of the market share of the global private investment in cybersecurity. By 2017 it’s double. That is a very quick doubling. It is now second to the United States…Israel is 1/10 of 1% of the world’s population and we are receiving 20% of the global share in private cybersecurity investments. That’s 200 times our weight in the world. What this revolution is doing…is allowing small countries to be big countries…this requires constant innovation.”
The Prime Minister continues to share how for Israel to stay at the top they are constantly searching for the best people to employ and they even go into grade schools to find hidden talent. Also, they chose to create a business-friendly environment to help attract business to be in Israel. “Specifically, we decided to turn Israel into one of the five cyber powers of the world and that required allowing this combination of military intelligence, academia, and industry to converge in one place.” He points out that they have all of these in one place, within 200 meters of each other, in Beersheba. “What does it develop into? It develops into a business enterprise if we allow the business of our military units and our intelligence units to create companies. In order for companies to develop…they need to make money! Now the easiest way to make sure they don’t make money is high taxes…regulations. We have a problem with regulations, so the policy we have is to keep taxes low and keep regulations low.”
He also shares how every country needs to have cybersecurity and can look to Israel for an example of how to carry it out. “Every single country here is talking to us about cyber. They all want to share in our knowledge of cyber defense. That doesn’t mean we share with everyone and it doesn’t mean we share equally with those that we share. But we do have a general policy of cooperation between governments; we have a general policy of cooperation between companies…I think it’s important that we can continue this cooperation for the defense of our countries and for the expansion of our economies.”
Israel is leading the way for security which we need as so many things from cars to refrigerators are now computers! They are a nation of 8 million people, so small yet making a huge impact in the world! Thank God for Israel and how they are blessing us all! What do you think about cybersecurity? We want to hear from you! Write to us at [email protected]. Greg and John shared in this segment.
Image courtesy of Youtube Haaretz.com
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