Israel is one of the world's leading cyber powers, head of the Shin Bet security agency Nadav Argaman said Tuesday at the Cybertech 2018 conference in Tel Aviv.
Argaman said the Israeli defense establishment and intelligence communities were cooperating with international intelligence services.
"The [Shin Bet] service has very significant offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, and this past year we have thwarted cyberattacks on Israeli systems from all over the world," the Shin Bet director said.
He said cybersecurity capabilities are a "major tool" in thwarting such attacks.
According to the Shin Bet website, its Technology and Cyber Division is responsible for initiating, developing, and producing advanced technological tools for use in collecting intelligence to counteract "terrorism, espionage, and domestic subversion against the State of Israel and its interests."
The Shin Bet says about a quarter of its employees are "technologically oriented."
