Cyber 2020

Launching a Cyber Attack Is Easy, the Challenge Is Not to Be Detected, Says Cyber Exec

Esti Peshin, vice president and head of the cyber division at defense contractor IAI, spoke Monday at Calcalist’s Cyber 2020 conference

We need to view cyber as a warfare domain, same as air, sea, and land, said Esti Peshin, vice president and head of the cyber division at defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI). Peshin spoke Monday at Calcalist’s Cyber 2020 conference in Tel Aviv.

 

Cyber technologies are making it easier for companies to run more efficiently, but they expose them to greater risks, Peshin said. Since 2015, we see an ever-growing trend of strategic threats, with cybercrimes on the rise, even in countries where the crime rate is generally low, Peshin said. We see attacks on infrastructure, industrial espionage, and even attempts to manipulate our thoughts and choices, which is one of the biggest strategic threats to western democracies, she said.

Esti Peshin. Photo: Orel Cohen

 

Launching a cyber attack is easy, the challenge is not being found, Pehin said. If you launch an attack via routers in several different countries, we won’t always be able to identify the attacker, Peshin said. There is also a growing gap in knowledge—the attackers are becoming better and better and the protectors find it more and more difficult to train talent fast enough.

 

By 2022, there will be a global shortage of 1.8 million cyber experts, Peshin said.