Mideast Security and Policy Studies No. 209
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: AIsrael, a country with the population of New York City, has become one of the world’s top cyber powers. Five primary factors account for this: the symbiotic relationship between the IDF and Israel’s commercial cyber sector, academia, and government ministries; compulsory military service in the IDF; the IDF’s singular contribution to the training of Israel’s cyber experts; cyber education; and a unique national culture, what we call “chutzpah gone viral.”
Israel was one of the first states to awaken to both the threats and opportunities presented by the cyber era. Over time, the cyber realm has come to pervade nearly every facet of Israeli national life and become both a primary engine of economic growth and an important area of military advantage. Astonishingly, Israel – with just 0.001 of the global population – is home to as many cyber startups as the rest of the world combined, not including the United States.