Israeli Defense in the Age of Cyber War

Baram discusses current cyber threats to Israel and attempts to quantify Israel’s preparation for the threats themselves. He points out that Israel’s formation of national security has inherently had to focus on defense, from Arab adversaries and constant threats to statehood. These threats have recently developed to cyber threats. To counteract these threats, Baram points to the “security triangle” of defense that Israel deploys: “deterrence, early warning, and a decisive operational victory” (Baram 2). Deterrence, or developing capabilities that naturally discourage other countries from attacking Israel, has been an effective tool, considering that Israel’s technological capabilities vastly outperform those close by. Early warning consists of intelligence about the technological capabilities of Israel’s neighbors so they can develop proper strategies. To illustrate how this pillar works, Baram used the example of the Yom Kippur War, in which Israel was able to pre-mobilize their troops. Finally, a decisive operational victory is developing appropriate power to win in a conflict if the prior pillars don’t work. As such, Baram shows Israel’s layered defense strategy. On a cyber-level, Israel was one of the first militaries in the world to incorporate cyber defense into their military and to expand their resources quickly and efficiently—eventually establishing a cyber branch. There are also several committees geared to improving cyber defense, including the Israel Security Agency, founded in 2002. Even through the lens of cyber, Israel has maintained their “security triangle”. For one, Israel received the highest score in cyber preparedness out of any country in the world, which sets up the reputation for deterrence from other countries. Cyber technologies have also added to deterrence, as well as served as intelligence through cyber espionage for Israel to know about the capabilities of their neighbors. Their technology has also allowed them to cause destruction from afar, which has helped with early warnings and decisive operational victory. Baram concludes that Israel has extremely advanced cyber technology through this three-pronged approach.