Vanguard Magazine

24 DECEMBER 2018/JANUARY 2019 www.vanguardcanada.com heavily in human and technology capi- tal, incubating their own and other na- tions' start-ups, and seeding innovation in the most unlikely of areas–the mili- tary. Israel did more than think outside the box: they re-designed the box. This fostered outstanding technologies like SCADAfence's technology that moni- tors utility and manufacturing opera- tions and Secret Double Octopus which "shreds" data, sending it over multiple channels (like WIFI, cell networks or Bluetooth), and securely reassembles it on the other end. One that point, part of Israel's success hinges on their incubator and accelera- tor facilities which are better described as fully commercialized, academic com- pounds of internally groomed cyber ex- pertise. Referred to as ecosystems, these facilities host multinationals and coordi- nate bilateral exercises from around the globe, allowing access to skilled gradu- ates from Ben Gurion University and cYBer the Israel Defense Forces' cyber and intel- ligence bases. However, in recent years Israel has been faltering in some aspects of the cyber sec- tor, although this varies depending on the index referenced. While some cyber readiness and performance indices mea- sure policy, economy, infrastructure, R&D spending and research infrastructure, oth- ers consider all or any combination of these. In the Preparing for Disruption: Technological Readiness Ranking by The Economist's Intelligence Unit 2 , Israel is expected to slide back a few spots in Tech- nological Readiness from 2017, but it has maintained its Cybersecurity Preparedness and leads in R&D spending, exceeding 4 per cent of their GDP (2015). With the cyber skills shortage a loom- ing concern for many nations, Israel may weather a bit better than its counterparts due to its existing skills base, mature train- ing programs and ability to retain domes- tic talent through competitive salaries. Ac- cording to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 3 , Israeli cybersecurity experts earn nearly three-and- a-half times more than the average salary in the local economy 4 and over two times more internationally. Whether that plus Israel's capabilities, in- vestments and expertise is enough to re-po- sition and sustain it through what will be a tough period remains one of many questions. e-Estonia: A digital society emerges from cyber disaster About 4300 kilometres north of Israel, Es- tonia, often referred to as the most advanced digital society in the world, also enjoys a place of prestige in cybersecurity and operations– for a very different reason than Israel. Many will remember when the small Baltic country was the target of massive cyber-attack on gov- ernment, banking, media and public services' systems in 2007, purported to be the first cyber-attack against an entire nation. Simple but well-coordinated, unprecedented levels of internet traffic orchestrated by botnets swamped target servers for weeks. Initially thought to be a dry-run to test the impacts of a massive denial of service attack, it was later found to be an act of political retaliation and aggression, and an unlikely event emerged as the apparent impetus for the attacks. The Bronze Soldier, originally known as the "Monument to the Liberators of Tallinn", was erected by Soviet authorities in 1947 as a tribute to Red Army soldiers, viewed as liberators by Russia. To ethnic Estonians, they were anything but, and the statue only served as a reminder of fifty years of Soviet oppression. In April 2007, the Estonian government decided to move the statue out of the city center to the outskirts of town, spurring two nights of rioting and violent protests by Russian-Estonians. Then came the waves of cyber-attacks. At that time, all that was known was that the attacks came from Russian IP addresses with online instructions in the Russian language. It did not go unnoticed that appeals for help from Moscow were ignored. Once the political dust had settled a little, Estonia developed a multi-faceted cyber strat- egy that addressed their national cyber require- ments, enhanced public safety, the real-time economy and digital democracy, as well as collaboration on international cyber law. Esto- nia turned what was the biggest unauthorized cyber-vulnerability test into the springboard for specialization: expertise in public services, government and infrastructure programs, such as e-Governance, e-Tax, X-Road, Digital ID, i-Voting, e-Health and e-Residency. The North Atlantic Council visits the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Estonia. "The Bronze Soldier", Estonia.

• Cover