On June 15, 2015, the IDF Spokesperson announced that in light of the substantial challenges facing the IDF in the cyber realm, the Chief of Staff decided to establish a cyber command to lead the operational activities in this emerging field. The cyber command will be established within two years, in the first stage both within the Military Intelligence Directorate and the C4I Telecommunications Directorate of the IDF. All future decisions with regard to the reorganization of cyber activity and construction of the new command must...
After years of focusing on the legality of targeted assassinations with attack-enhanced remotely-operated UAVs, UN circles came to the realization that the development of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), which choose their targets without human involvement, is already well underway and may prove to be a profound global challenge. Meanwhile, the human rights-based initiative against lethal autonomous weapons systems is gathering momentum because the systems are armed and present the danger that innocent bystanders will be...
Israel’s rapid development as a leader in cyberspace places it in a unique position to advance cyberspace research in Israel in general and at the Institute for National Security Studies in particular. As is our custom every year, we offer those interested in cyberspace this unique publication, which brings together some of the products of cyberspace research and essays published by the INSS Cyber Security Program. The essays in this journal have been published in Military and Strategic Affairs and represent the efforts of INSS...
La cyber guerra e diventata un’importante fonte di potere per le nazioni, e, allo stesso tempo, e una minaccia strategica per le infrastrutture critiche di una nazione, dato che la comunicazione, I media, le finanza, e molti altri settori si basano ormal sul dominio del cyberspazio.
The success of the Islamic State (ISIS) includes the integration of interrelated elements in a way that helps the organization consolidate its control of extensive regions, serve as the current spearhead in the global Jihad effort, and threaten the world with terrorist attacks carried out by its agents holding citizenship in a Western country. These agents are liable to return to their homeland and along with “lone wolves” they are liable to carry out terrorist attacks against targets in the West. The aim of this article is to...
Cyber-attacks are often viewed in academic and military writings as strategic asymmetric weapons, great equalizers with the potential of leveling the battlefield between powerful nations and those less capable. However, there has been little evidence to suggest that cyber-attacks are a genuine military option in a state-on-state conflict. In instances of actual military operations (e.g., Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraq, and Israel/Gaza), there is little accompanying evidence of a military conducting cyber-attacks against either a...
The program on Technology Forecasting and Policy Implications, established at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in 2012, was designed to examine and demonstrate the ability to combine long term technology forecasting with the process of policy formulation. The ability to forecast the likely main capabilities technology of twenty years hence has thus far not been recognized as a policymaking tool, either on a national level or within the defense establishment. The main premise underlying this INSS research program is...
The announcement by Sony Pictures that it would not release The Interview for screening in major US theaters as planned was the culmination of a series of events that featured elements of cyber warfare and psychological warfare, and threatened to spill over into physical terrorism. One of the unfortunate conclusions arising from this incident is the emerging trend of exploiting cyberspace capabilities for the sake of political extortion. The implications are liable to exceed the limits of free speech. The incident thus demonstrates...
Three interesting processes are underway as a direct result of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the extent of the access by US security services to personal information stored and processed in the IT systems of global American companies. One of these processes is essentially technological, the second is legal, and the third is of a business nature. All three processes are designed to constrict access by American government agencies to personal information held by those companies, in their effort to preserve national security and...
In Israel, there is a consensus on the value of all knowledge generated in the defense establishment and its contribution to the economy. But in the State Comptroller’s report of March 2014, the management of intellectual property (IP) at the Ministry of Defense was described as an ongoing fiasco, with the blame ascribed to both the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance. This essay seeks to contribute to the discourse on remedying the flaws and suggest some organizing principles in the management of IP, while considering...
The emergence of the cyber threat phenomenon is forcing organizations to change the way they think about security. One of these changes relates to organizations’ policy on sharing cyber information with outside parties. This means shifting away from the view of the organization as an isolated, compartmentalized entity towards a view of the organization as a sharing one. Sharing generates a complex, multifaceted challenge to technology, law, organizational culture and even politics. Establishing a system of sharing serves many...
The current Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) theory has been the focus of academics and military analysts, trying to define the role of technology in transforming military affairs during the past three decades. However, despite the vast literature on the subject, only a limited number of studies look into the implications of RMA on small states. The emphasis on great powers, as some scholars suggest, is a reflection of the fact that the broader strategic studies literature does not necessarily consider small states, as their...
