The Rise of Israel’s Tech Sector

The emerging world of ever-growing connectivity, cybersecurity, and cyber-threats has initiated an uncontrolled transformation in the balance of global superpowers. The old notion of power relying on the number of aircraft and missiles a country owns has expanded to include new terms—terms such as the magnitude of a denial of service attack and the sophistication of advanced persistent attacks, which has changed the landscape forever. A new form of power has emerged, with new rules of engagement expressed by bits and bytes, and deep knowledge of how networks and operating systems work. In the recent decade, Israel naturally evolved to become one of the top players in this new playground, and the reasons for this change are rooted deeply in its history.

Israel, a rather “new” nation on the face of the earth, has two main distinctive characteristics compared to many other countries: the entrepreneurial spirit that served as a backbone for building the country from the ground up and the ongoing resistance of its close and distant neighbors to accept it as a legitimate nation. This ongoing struggle pushed the country to the forefront of technology for both defense and offensive. Furthermore, since Israel is a small country, the goal of seeking an advantage in a different arena where wisdom plays a bigger role than money was natural— the world of cybersecurity created such opportunity. This advantage evolved into a mature and proven cybersecurity capability that is being put to the test every second of the day.