The cyber challenge the Israeli military is facing only stands to grow, a senior IDF officer told Israel Hayom over the weekend, saying it is the Center of Encryption and Information Security to prevent a situation when such challenges compromise IDF's missions.
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"Whenever I'm asked what type of challenges we face, I always imagine what will happen in the next northern war, if the IDF wants to act and can't over a cyber hack," Col. R., head of the CEISU, which operates under the C4I Directorate of the Israel Defense Force.
"A brigade cannot maneuver on the ground without digital systems and the IDF will not be able to function. That's the nightmare scenario," he said.
CEIS serves as the national unit for encryption and information security and provides services to the entire Israeli defense establishment. It was formed soon after Israel's inception and has developed classified codes for all security forces units.
In 2000, the unit stepped into the realm of cybersecurity in an effort to provide the IDF with the necessary data encryption in an increasingly digital battlefield.
"It's almost impossible to crack an Israeli code, but it was still necessary to create new patterns of action to create protection in our networks," he explained.
Breaching the Israeli military grid would be a feather in any hacker's cap, and there is no short of attempts to do so, he confirmed, without revealing the exact scope of such cyberattacks.
"If anyone could get their hands on IDF information it would carry significant weight vis-à-vis our enemies or on the cyber market. Naturally, there is great interest in the IDF grid from the enemy and people who want to get their hands on this information. They are highly motivated to breach us."
For most of his service in the IDF, R. focused on the sphere of cyber offensive, which he said one must be familiar with in order to protect Israel in the digital sphere.
"Just as we're not waiting to find the Iranians on the border, rather we're taking actions to keep them at bay, the same applies to cyber. We don't want to find ourselves in the middle of a cyber conflict – we want to prevent it," he explained.
Quality personnel is imperative to that end.
"Manpower is out biggest issue because, at the end of the day, CEIS is about people, not jets or tanks. We have to rely on our soldiers' abilities.
"A scenario where the IDF can't operate when it is called upon is very troubling, which is why we operate constantly, with great caution and considerable superiority," he said.
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