National Cyber Security Authority director to Science and Technology Committee members: ”Dispute with security establishment leaders not as severe as it is being made out to be”
National Cyber Security Authority director to Science and Technology Committee members: ”Dispute with security establishment leaders not as severe as it is being made out to be”
Members of the Knesset`s Science and Technology Committee visited the National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA) in Beersheba on Sunday and toured the CERT Division at the site.
NCSA Director Buky Carmeli revealed that cyber-attacks on Israel`s energy infrastructures occur regularly, adding that Israel was in the process of establishing cooperation with other countries on cybersecurity, in addition to the existing cooperation with the US.
Carmeli also addressed reports that the leaders of Israel’s security establishment had sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning against the establishment of the National Cyber Authority.
(Carmeli, left, with MKs Maklev and Jelin)
The letter, signed by Mossad head Yossi Cohen, Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman, IDF deputy chief of staff Yair Golan and Defense Ministry director general Udi Adam warns Netanyahu that in its current proposed form, the cyber authority would cause “severe harm to the security of the State of Israel.”
In August 2016, the Knesset proposed reforming the NCSA, which was designed to bring together country’s various cyber defense groups under one umbrella.
The authority would monitor the cyber defenses of the IDF and the Mossad, as well as the Electric Corporation and the Water Authority, among other tasks.
The body had originally been created in February 2015, but did not officially receive any powers or responsibility under Israeli law. The August 2016 reform was meant to address this issue.
In the letter, the defense and intelligence heads reportedly wrote that the draft law ”seeks to grant extensive powers to the cyber authority, the purpose of which is not clearly defined.” They called to limit the authority`s powers.
Carmeli told the MKs that the dispute with the intelligence and security heads was ”at most, about the scope of the legislation.”
Carmeli said organizations in Israel are required to constantly update their defense mechanisms due to the fact that the technology supporting cyber-attacks is improving at a rapid pace.
Science and Technology Committee Chairman MK Uri Maklev (United Torah Judaism) said Israel ”must be a leader” in the field of cybersecurity, adding that ”arguments over who will take the lead [on Israel`s cyber policy] will hurt us.”
MK Maklev said the NCSA ”has some difficult tasks, including narrowing the gap between technological advancement and [cyber defense].” Israel`s relations with some countries is based ”on these capabilities,” he stressed.
Rafi Franco, senior division head at the cyber authority, told the committee members that it plans to begin training students in grades 10-12 as part of the teleprocessing programs in Israel`s schools.
