“Cyber security is not information security, said Mr. Avi Hasson, Chief Scientist, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor speaking on the topic of “Cyber security in a borderless global arena” at the 13th annual Herzliya Conference.

Hasson noted that the topic of cyber security involves challenges in four different areas: technology, procedures, education and regulations and as such, we need an “integration of many different operations to deal with cyber security … If one wants to deal with this very meaningful threat, each challenge needs to be dealt with … Cyber security and dealing with it is not only about securing information … it’s something completely different and complex…”

In tackling these issues, he said, “the bad news is we are not there yet,” explaining that “we are missing integrative solutions … we are missing analytical and proactive dimensions… There are technological gaps which are very significant.”

Adv. Yoram Hacohen, Head, Law, Information and Technology Authority, Ministry of Justice noted that it is “not always clear that cyber matters are translated into the real world … The borders are open. We have no real borders … There’s a lot if information that is passed online … A lot of it is legitimized but without borders it is hard to impose limitations.” He stressed, “As much as we hear of Israel being a cyber security super power, we are not succeeding,” adding that it’s a “terrible phenomenon when systems with very sensitive information have no security … it’s like having a business in a building without strong walls.”

On a positive note, referring to the very low level of password protection, Dr. Dorit Dor, VP of Products, CheckPoint said “90% of the attacks are very basic … The starting point is so basic that if we can maintain even a few basic principles we can strengthen our natural security greatly.” She added that the nature of the attacks constantly change and that the “basic defense infrastructure needs to know how to link with different sources … we have to adapt as well and change from defense to defense … Our role as cyber protectors is to create a multi-dimensional level of defense.”

Identifying a different cyber threat, Mr. Adi Sharabani, CEO & Co- Founder Skycure, noted that a big problem in the cyber and mobile world today is “profiling,” “Only accept profiles from trusted providers,” he said.

“We hear about significant attacks that happen everywhere in the world” said Dr. Eviatar Matania, Head, Israel National Cyber Bureau, Prime Minister’s Office, “This topic is very, very global. The whole world basically uses the same operating system, the same computer systems … When there is a breech, it has an effect on the whole world … We need to create a whole cyber ecosystem in Israel and this should take Israel robustly into the future.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)