CybersecurityIsrael taps 10th graders’ cybersecurity skills to expand cybersecuity recruitment pool

Israel has been subjected to a growing number of cyberattacks – and has itself used cyber-warfare against its adversaries. To make sure it stays ahead, Israel is accelerating its recruitment and development efforts in cybersecurity.

Israel currently has twice as many scientists and engineers per capita, and ten times more soldiers in active duty, relative to its population than the United States, so the country already has many smart people working on defensive and offensive aspects of cubersecurity. The Christian Science Monitor reports that now the country is expanding the pool of potential cyberwarriors by going into high school classrooms to tap the skills of tenth-graders, and calling on venture capital firms to recruit cyber experts.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will begin to send soldiers to universities for specialized cyber training, and three years ago the IDF launched a special program – the Magshimim program — to identify qualified high school students and enroll them in  cybersecurity training as early as tenth grade.

Professor Isaac Ben Israel, a former major general in the air force and one of the creators of Israel’s new National Cyber Bureau, says Israel’s cyber-defenses has improved due to “the pleasure, the benefit, of selecting the right people for the right positions,” thanks in large part to mandatory military service, which pools the country’s talent and makes for efficient recruiting.

According to U.S. cybersecurity experts, Israel’s model can be followed by other countries looking to boost their cyber protections.

Some American cybersecurity experts say Israel is  out in front of the United States when it come to developing cyber talent with the ability to write and modify computer code, spot software vulnerabilities, move clandestinely inside networks, and manipulate systems, rather than just develop cybersecurity policy.

All these efforts have contributed to Israel achieving a top-3 ranking in preparedness for cyberattacks in a 2012 report by security technology company McAfee, along with Finland and Sweden — and ahead of the United States, China, and Russia. Israel’s critical infrastructure sector has been required by law to implement cyber protections since 2002, a decade before U.S. Congress tried, and failed, to pass similar legislation.

“What Israel has done is focus much more heavily on technical skills and leave the political work to the politicians,” Alan Paller of the SANS Institute, told CSM. “Their skill level [per capita] … outdoes everyone, even China,” he adds, despite China’s “massive program” for developing skilled cyber experts.

Professor Ben Israel has been a significant figure in the country’s cyber efforts, and has even started an annual International Cyber Security Conference in the country, which this year features speakers Eugene Kaspersky and former White House official Richard Clarke.

Other efforts by Ben Israel include pushing for the unification of academia, hi-tech industry, and the military when it comes to cybersecurity.

Ben-Gurion University (BGU), located in the city of Beersheva, is the first Israeli university to offer a cybersecurity graduate program. Next to the campus is the Advanced Technologies Park (ATP), a two-million square foot complex which will open next month. Deutsche Telekom andEMC have already committed to setting up offices in the park.

In addition to the campus and the park, a new military communications center is set to open next year, which will include the main cybersecurity training center for the IDF.

Bracha Shapira, the head of BGU’s Information Systems Engineering department, says the short distance between the campus and the park will result in significant research opportunities.

“When you collaborate, industry gives you money to research,” Shapira toldCSM. “Also, you work on more interesting things because you understand the real problems that industry and defense [are facing] …. You get good sources of data, and really get to work on cutting-edge technology.”

According to Ben Israel, the advancements have put the country in a good position to defend itself from cyberattacks, but more needs to be done.

“In relative terms, we are in good shape,” Israel told CSM. “In absolute terms, we are not in the required shape. Unfortunately we have more threats than Finland, Sweden, or even the United States.”