Israel Defense Forces and National Cyber Defense

While Tabansky outlines the history of Israeli cyber defense, he points out that Israeli cyber defense has switched primarily to defend against Iran and Gaza (which gets their capabilities from Iran). These specific pillars include “early warning, decisive battlefield victory, deterrence (cumulative, not absolute), and defense of the rear “home front” (Tabansky 48). These pillars were addressed by Israel through creation of a Critical Infrastructure Protection Arrangement and creation of The National Cyber Initiative Expert Review. While the former set up legal implications for cybersecurity, the review allowed Israel to think of tangible ways to execute these pillars on a cyber level and protect themselves against Iran. Based on this review, Israel developed a cybersecurity bureau, which included a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) in addition to more emphasis on civilian cybersecurity. Tabanksy then spends the second half of his article discussing how Israel was able to implement their military capabilities with their cyber goals. Specifically, he outlines intelligence operations in which Israel used intelligence to stop cyber-attacks against their country. These intelligence operations help to streamline Israeli cybersecurity through using their existing extensive capabilities, like the Israeli Air Force. Through adding a cyber branch within the military, Israel was able to efficiently use capital and existing goals to protect cyber interests, rather than starting from scratch. The problem with this, Tabansky points out, lies within the limited ability to help all a nation if the resources are streamlined only into cyber. While Israel has great success in cyber capability and defense, Tabansky recommends increasing civilian cyber capabilities and innovation.