The growing risks of cyber-attacks faced by all organizations and individuals around the world is a reflection of the fact that “for the first time in history, crime is being led by smart and creative people,” a leading Israeli cyber-security expert has warned.
Menny Barzilay, chief technology officer of the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center at Tel Aviv University and the co-founder of several companies, previously served as the chief information security officer in the intelligence services of the Israeli Defense Forces. He has also held several tech-related managerial positions in the largest Israeli banking group.
Speaking during a webinar held in recent weeks, Barzilay said it was vital to recognize that “everything is hackable; given enough time and money, nothing is safe. That does not mean we cannot be secure in today’s world. But the first step is to acknowledge that everything is hackable. Prevention is not enough. We have to be able to prevent most of the attacks, and also detect those that we did not stop and respond effectively,” he said. “If we know how to do those three things, we are considered to be secure in today’s world.”
It is reported by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that China and Russia are the biggest cyber offenders and have been since 2006. From 2006 to 2018, China was involved in 108 cyber incidents with losses of more than $1 million each. Russia has been responsible for 98 major cyber incidents since 2006 with losses of more than $1 million each.
The rule of thumb, he said, is that cyber security will become increasingly important with time, and that with change come new opportunities and new threats—all part of a single inevitable two-sided coin. Israel had already identified this as a worldwide problem and invested very heavily, hence it no surprise that Israel is already classified as one of the leaders in cyber security.