Most people by now have probably heard about the Israeli company NSO Group. Customers with its Pegasus surveillance software are able to snoop on cell phones without the user’s knowledge, exposing their location, correspondence and even camera and microphone. The spyware has allegedly been used to hack into some 50,000 phones across the world – including those of 14 heads of state, and hundreds of journalists and political activists.
The company denies any association with the allegations, and says its technology is sold only to law enforcement and intelligence agencies of vetted governments. It says that the purpose of the technology is to save lives – to track the likes of terrorists, pedophile rings, human traffickers, drug smugglers and other criminals. It also says that its technology is used to trace survivors trapped under collapsed buildings, and to locate missing and kidnapped children.
Investigations are underway. In the meantime, the case perfectly illustrates how technology can potentially be used for good or for bad, and how important it is to monitor.
Everything is vulnerable
While technology has unquestionably improved our lives, our reliance on it makes everyone and everything vulnerable to attack.
Indeed, as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a recent TED-style talk to Israel’s Cyber Week conference at Tel Aviv University, cyberterrorism is one of the biggest threats that exist today. Himself the former CEO of a successful cybersecurity company, Bennett said, “Everything is under attack: our water, electricity, food, airplanes, cars. Everything is vulnerable…”
Recently Sky News in the UK reported on secret files apparently showing Iranian intelligence plans to potentially sink a cargo ship or blow up a gas station fuel pump using cyberattacks. Israel, the US, UK, France and others were allegedly named as possible targets. The documents included information such as ships’ satellite communication technology, and even details of how lighting and temperature are controlled in smart homes.
Cyberterrorism is so serious that it has the potential to undermine all of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – the 17 biggest challenges facing our world today. This means that the data and information stored in systems, for example, to manage clean drinking water and renewable energy, or to monitor our agriculture and food supplies, must be protected at all costs.
If cyberterrorism is a huge threat, then cybersecurity is a huge opportunity.
A tiny nation; a giant in cybersecurity
There are numerous examples of Israeli cybersecurity technologies protecting the world’s data and information. Cloud cybersecurity company, Orca Security, for example, which detects and prioritizes risks in “minutes,” was named a 2021 Cool Vendor by Gartner, and is planning to expand its operations in Europe and Australia by the end of 2021.
Israeli cyber start-ups like Wiz, Orca, and CYE, raised investments worth a record $1.5 billion in the first quarter of the year alone. Just to underline how extraordinary these companies are, in March 2021, it was reported that Wiz was worth $1.7 billion - just one year after its founding and with only 65 employees.
The year 2020 was also a record-breaking period for the Start-up Nation, with $2.9 billion generated for the cybersecurity industry – during a global pandemic. In fact, COVID-19 highlighted just how important cybersecurity is, and will be for the world going forward, with more and more people working and needing to access services from home.
With the move to the cloud, companies all around the world are looking to upgrade their security solutions. And our reliance on video to connect us, even when we are in isolation, means that protecting against ‘deepfakes’ (fake videos) has become a priority.
Sharing Israel’s technology with others
Israeli technology is helping numerous countries to protect their services, businesses and essential utilities from cyberattack, fraud and theft. In India, for example, Israeli start-up NanoLock Security and Genus Power Infrastructures have signed a partnership agreement to protect the millions of metering devices installed by Genus across the world.
And as we shop more online and become better aware of the issue of cybersecurity, people are increasingly looking to take steps to reduce and safeguard their personal digital footprint. Israeli product, Mine, has already helped more than 100,000 users in Europe and the US to cut their digital footprint through over 1.3 million deletion requests worldwide.
Cybersecurity is also playing a prominent role in Israel’s diplomacy, with it featuring prominently in the Abraham Accords, for example, with the UAE.
A call to the world…
Israel has numerous agreements with individual countries on sharing cybersecurity intelligence. However, the government is looking to enhance cooperation even further, and has announced it is creating the “Global Cybernet Shield.”
This will be a global version of Israel’s online defense system, Cybernet, which brings together over 1,500 organizations, sharing cyberattack information to warn others and advising on cyber defense strategies.
Calling on allies across the world to unite, to create a global cybersecurity network, Bennett said, “If you try and fight alone, you’re going to lose. If you fight together, you’re going to win.”
Israel has a reputation as a world leader in cybersecurity – and the government’s senior inter-ministerial team looking into the NSO issue will be mindful of protecting this reputation as they conduct their investigations.
The writer helps multinationals report on their contributions to tackling the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – the 17 major challenges facing the world today; is the author of Tikkun Olam: Israel vs COVID-19; and is also a news anchor and Middle East correspondent for WION (World Is One). The views expressed are hers alone.