While not much is known about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, otherwise known as the Islamic State), because it has no centralized control, and its size and command structure, along with the identity of its leaders, are unclear, it is already obvious we are only at the beginning of a new fierce war in cyberspace. Indeed, while embodying the evil spirit of fanaticism, the organization’s activity demonstrates the duality between what appears to be primitivism and 21st century cyber warfare. In turn, in a step that aroused...
Although the IDF’s abilities to handle the rocket and attack tunnel threats have garnered most of the attention during the latest campaign in the Gaza Strip, it is now clear that Israel was also forced to confront cyber challenges during Operation Protective Edge. More specifically, in the course of the campaign Iranian elements launched a widespread cyber offensive against Israeli targets, including attempts to damage security and financial networks. While these attempts were neutralized relatively easily and quickly by Israeli...
In the course of 2013, Iran became one of the key players in the international cyber warfare theater. This development is a result of both defensive and offensive cyber force buildup processes and a measured relaxation of restraints on the part of Iranian decision makers with respect to offensive activity in cyberspace. Indeed, the Iranian activity points to major qualitative advances in Iran’s technological and operational cyber capabilities. This article examines the activity and progress in Iran’s cyber defense system, and the...
In recent years, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles has been on the rise. However, there is an evident change in constituent components. As the number of countries utilizing these vehicles continues to increase, the manufacturing process has been revolutionized, allowing many nations and commercial companies to manufacture and sell UAVs to the highest bidder. The changes in manufacturing processes have given rise to an expansion of their possible use, including terror. These changes require a reevaluation in order to face the...
Anyone following the development of Iran’s cyber capabilities is not surprised that Iran has slowly become a significant power in the cyber arena. Recently, a long term Iranian cyber espionage campaign in the United States was uncovered that made use of “social engineering” and phishing in order to gather information from important officials in the United States, Israel, Great Britain, and other countries. The campaign is one of a long list of actions in cyberspace attributed to Iran designed to hurt the United States, Israel, and...
Over the course of 2013, Iran became one of the most active players in the international cyber arena. Iran’s progress can be attributed to a combination of two elements: a certain easing of the restraints on offensive activity in cyberspace by Iranian decision makers, and a qualitative leap by the Iranian cyber warfare system. The rapid development of Iran’s cyber warfare capability means that Israel and other Western countries must work decisively and systematically to maintain qualitative and operational superiority in cyberspace....
Israel’s rapid development as a leading player in the cyber realm is one of several factors that have spurred research in Israel in general, and at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in particular, on cyber-related issues. In order to broaden the scope of the research underway at INSS, the INSS Cyber Program has long promoted international cooperation in the field, reflected, for example, in the INSS conference on defensive operations and intelligence in cyberspace, held with the Cyber Security Forum Initiative...
Cyberspace is especially suited to the theft of business information and to espionage. The accessibility of information, along with the ability to remain anonymous and cover one’s tracks, allows various entities to engage in the theft of valuable information, an act that can cause major damage. Israel, rich in advanced technology and a leader in innovation-based industries that rely on unique intellectual property, is a prime target for cyber theft and commercial cyber attacks. This article examines the scope of cyber theft and cyber...
The threat of cyber terrorism has created the image of a terrorist in a remote, isolated location inflicting major damage by penetrating security or economic systems via cyberspace, and this image has been made especially popular through the activity of the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). With hackers targeting popular websites, SEA has brought the image to the fore of global threat perceptions. However, SEA has not developed to the point where it can cause irreversible damage. It lacks the required high quality intelligence for cyber...
The implications of cyberspace crime for national security derive from the way technology is used by hostile elements. This article proposes a policy directed examination of the meaning of cyberspace crime and its impact on national security. Currently, cybercrime is hardly significant beyond the realms of IT risk management and law enforcement. However, this article identifies two separate conditions where cybercrime could become a substantial threat to national security.
This essay confronts two main problems in cyber defense: the attribution issue (who is attacking?) and the threshold issue (is it worth all-out war?). Starting with a war-game scenario, an analytical framework based on the Tallinn Manual is suggested to delineate cases for wars and areas of crises. The prosecution of cyber crises is then proposed through two “reduction in asymmetrical information” strategies. The threshold issue can be alleviated with a better understanding of observable and simulated effects on the defending...
This article discusses active protection in response to the rocket threat to Israel’s home front. The defense establishment anticipates that in an allout war, the home front would be attacked for about thirty days, and that every day there would be about one thousand rocket and missile hits that would cause thousands of casualties as well as damage to infrastructures and strategic sites. Israel has an active protection system with five layers of interceptor missiles, and in cooperation with the United States, it developed Nautilus, a...
