????近幾個月，特別是自從西方國家與伊朗達成核協議以來，美國和以色列的關系日漸緊張。盡管如此，美以之間的網絡安全合作仍然非常緊密，8月雙方甚至就此簽署了一項繼續合作的聯合聲明。

????作為一個強敵環伺的區域強國，確保自身生存是以色列的第一要務。經歷多年的發展，以色列已經成為全球網絡安全、殺毒軟件等網絡防御技術領域的高科技中心。這也是以色列自立更生政策的一個縮影。自立國以來，以色列就一直面臨著四面皆敵的險境。班格里昂大學網絡安全研究中心位于以色列比爾謝瓦市，其技術總監都杜·米姆蘭指出：“身居中東地區的以色列在現實世界中面臨的挑戰環境，也反映在網絡世界之中。安全雖然是一個在理論上也可以傳授的課題，但沒有什么能代替我們所積累的大量實際經驗。”

????盡管網絡安全已經成為一個全球性的課題，但以色列的網絡安全技術是從該國對網上網下兩個戰場的持續警覺自然演變而來的。確保本國人民能夠應對各種水平的威脅，已經成為了以色列政府的核心戰略，也使得網絡安全從一個手工作坊式的小產業，逐步成長為該國經濟中一個欣欣向榮的行業。

????以色列的信息安全生態系統包含很多方面，既有像Check Point這樣的成熟企業，也有耶路撒冷創投公司網絡實驗室這種主要面向網絡安全領域的風投公司，此外還有班格里昂大學德意志電信創新實驗室這樣的研究機構。這種雄厚的技術實力吸引了全世界的目光。米姆蘭介紹道：“微軟等跨國企業認為，以色列是一個人才濟濟的網絡強國。這些公司大多把資金投入到已經收購的現有團隊上，由他們建立網絡安全研發中心。”

????Pund-IT公司首席分析師查爾斯·金指出，拜政府對科研和科學教育的支持所賜，大多數知名IT企業都在以色列設立了研發機構，從而為以色列培養了堅實的創業精神和創業文化。他表示：“可以說，歷史、政治、社會、文化等一系列因素的結合，使以色列自然而然地成為了網絡安全創新的中心。這恰逢其時，尤其是考慮到近年來全球網絡襲擊事件的危害持續增長。”

????查爾斯·金表示，在這樣一個幾乎每名公民都要義務服兵役的國家，我們很容易就能看到軍事和IT部門的聯系。隨著計算機技術在戰爭中應用得越來越廣，這種聯系的力度也在不斷加強，同時也有越來越多曾在軍隊中服役的人員加入了國防和IT部門。

????以色列的云安全公司Adallom就是這樣一個例子，該公司成立于2012年，三名創辦人都曾在以色列國防軍中服役，這家公司目前在以色列和美國已經擁有80余名員工。公司名稱源自一個叫做艾德哈洛姆的地方，在1948年的阿以戰爭中，埃及軍隊最遠曾打到此處，因此這里又被稱作“最后一道防線”。Salesforce、微軟和谷歌等知名企業的云服務器都在使用Adallom公司的遠程服務器安全技術。它的軟件能夠監控單個員工對云應用的使用，還能搜索到有可能形成安全泄露的使用模式和異常現象。

????雖然以色列國防軍和IT部門之間并沒有直接的聯系，但軍事人員流動到IT部門卻是常事——特別是一些具備互聯網技術的軍人，包括網絡戰爭部門的人員。在私人部門中，他們都是非常搶手的人才。

????米姆蘭表示：“國防部門的人才與以色列強烈的創業精神結合起來，就是促進網絡安全和科技公司不斷成長的完美配方。”

????這種聯系在過去幾十年里不斷加深。早在1993年，位于特拉維夫的Check Point公司就開發出了FireWall-1防火墻，它也是世界上最早的聯網電腦防護方案之一。這款防御軟件是由以色列企業家吉爾·舍伍德開發的。他早年曾效力于以色列國防軍專門收集敵方信號情報的8200部隊。在舍伍德的領導下，這家公司成長為以色列最大的科技企業。Check Point是最早發現電腦網絡防護需求的公司，更重要的是，它是在大多數人還沒有用上互聯網的時候，就填補了這一需求空白。

????休斯敦Alert Logic公司的威脅研究主任斯蒂芬·科蒂表示：“直到1994年，美國的思科公司還沒有進入這個市場。在其他人還在依賴命令進行控制的時候，Check Point公司已經推出了一套防火墻方案來給企業提供保護，而且還開發了一個GUI界面。”

????20多年后，又有20多家以色列公司追隨Check Point的腳步，進入了網絡安全行業，使該行業成為了“以色列硅谷”的一個領軍產業。據以色列國家網絡局介紹，以色列目前占據全球網絡安全技術市場10%的份額，2014年，以色列的網絡安全軟件銷售額達到了600億美元。

????憑借這樣漂亮的數字，以色列的網絡安全公司也吸引了西方科技公司的注意。比如今年7月，有消息稱微軟計劃出資3.2億美元收購Adallom。在此次收購之前，Adallom已經在三年內獲得了大約5000萬美元的融資。Adllom目前已經把總部搬到了加州門洛帕克，但仍在特拉維夫保留了辦事機構，這里也將成為微軟在以色列的網絡安全業務中心。另據報道，在此次交易前，微軟已經以2億美元的價格收購了以色列安全軟件開發商Aorato。

????微軟并不是唯一一家在以色列有大動作的西方公司。上個月，英國微芯片設計商Arm Holdings公司宣布將在以色列建立新的研發中心。而就在此前，該公司剛剛收購了以色列的Sansa Security公司，這是一家專門從事物聯網、移動信托和網絡安全技術的公司，這筆交易的價格據稱為1.003億美元。

????這些交易說明了以色列網絡安全技術的價值有多高。米姆蘭表示：“以色列是少數成為全球網絡技術領頭羊的國家之一。危險四伏的網絡世界十分需要這樣的領導力。”

????當然，隨著網絡戰越來越成為戰爭的常規手段，以色列在該領域的領導力也有助于該國的持久生存。這就是為什么以色列要大力讓學生為打贏未來的網絡戰作準備。科蒂表示：“以色列從小就教學生學習編程與應用，通過這種做法，他們已經在培養下一代網絡戰士。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????審校：任文科

????In recent months, and especially since the nuclear deal with Iran, there has been a strain between the U.S. and Israel. Despite this, one area where the ties remain close is cyber security, with the two parties even cosigning a statement committing continued cooperation on that front last month.

????A regional power devoted to ensuring its own survival, Israel has burgeoned into a high tech epicenter built around Internet security, anti-virus software, and other cyber defense technologies. Much of this is an extension of its self-reliance, and the added fact that since the creation of modern Israel, the nation has faced enemies on its borders. “The challenging environment Israel faces in the Middle East in the physical world has reflections also on the cyber world,” says Dudu Mimran, CTO of the Cyber Security Research Center at Ben-Gurion University, located in Beer Sheva, Israel. “Security is a subject that can be taught theoretically, but nothing is a substitute for a real hands-on experience and we’ve got lots of it.”

????And while cyber security has become worldwide issue, Israel’s cyber security expertise has evolved naturally from its constant vigilance, both online and off. Ensuring that its people remain able to take on threats and at all levels has become center to Israeli governmental strategy, and transformed what began as a cottage industry into a thriving sector of the nation’s economy.

????Israel’s information security ecosystem has many aspects. There are mature companies such as Check Point; there are venture capitalists which focus on cyber such as Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) Cyber Labs; and there are research collaborations such as the Deutsche Telekom Innovation Laboratories activity at Ben-Gurion University. This array of expertise has turned heads, worldwide. “Microsoft “MSFT” and many other multi-national companies identified that Israel is a cyber powerhouse with the right talent,” says Mimran. “They invest money mostly in already acquiring existing teams to setup cyber security research and development centers.”

????According to Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, government support of science and science education have resulted in most major IT vendors placing research facilities in Israel, which has in turn nurtured a strong entrepreneurial spirit and culture. “You could argue that this combination of factors—historical, political, societal and cultural—have all combined to make Israel a natural epicenter of security innovation,” he says. “It is certainly timely, especially considering the growing power and threat of global cyber attacks.”

????And in a nation where nearly every citizen faces compulsory military service, it easy to see the ties between the military and the IT sector. The increasing use of computing technologies in warfare has strengthened those dynamics, as has the regular migration of former military personnel into defense and IT industry positions, says King.

????One such example is Adallom, maker of cloud security, which was founded in 2012 by three former members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and has some 80 employees in offices in Israel and the United States. The company gets its name from the Ad Halom, the site near Ashdod that was the furthest point reached by the Egyptian Army in the 1948 Arab-Israeli Wars, and is otherwise known as the “the last line of defense.”Adallom has developed security technology for remote servers, including those running Salesforce’s, Microsoft’s or Google’s cloud services. Its software can monitor the use of cloud application by individual employees, and this includes looking for patterns and anomalies that could be security breaches.

????While there is no direct link between the IDF and the IT sector, there is a flow of people who graduate from certain military units—notably those that deal with Internet-based technologies including cyber warfare—and then become highly desired talent in the private sector.

????“Connecting the talent pool coming out of defense organizations with the strong entrepreneurial spirit that exists here, and you get the perfect ingredient for a powerhouse, in terms of cyber security startups and technology companies,” says Mimran.

????And that connection has been making strides in digital security for decades. For instance, In 1993, Tel Aviv-based Check Point developed FireWall-1, one of the very first protection solutions for Internet-connected computers. The defensive software was developed by Israeli-entrepreneur Gil Shwed, who served in the IDF’s Unit 8200—which is responsible for collecting signal intelligence—and grew the company into one of the country’s biggest tech giants. Check Point foresaw a need for protecting computer networks, and more importantly, filled that need before most people were even online.

????“America’s Cisco didn’t even enter the market until 1994,” says Internet security professional Stephen Coty, director of threat research at Houston-based Alert Logic. “Check Point introduced a firewall solution to protect enterprise and came out with a GUI interface when others were still relying on command line controls.”

????More than twenty years later, there more than two dozen other Israeli firms have followed Check Point’s lead into the cyber security space, a leading industry in Silicon Wadi, the country’s own version of Silicon Valley. According to Israel’s National Cyber Bureau, Israel accounted for 10 percent of global security technology, and sales of its security software topped $60 billion in 2014.

????With these numbers, Israeli security firms have caught the attention of western tech companies. For instance, in July it was revealed that Microsoft plans to acquire Adallom for $320 million. Prior to the acquisition, Adallom had secured around $50 millionin funding over three years. The company, which is currently headquartered in Menlo Park retains offices in Tel Aviv, and will become the center for Microsoft’s security business in Israel. And the acquisition also follows Microsoft’s purchase of Israel-based security software developer Aorato for a reported $200 million.

????But the Windows developer isn’t the only big named outsider getting active in Israel. Last month, British micro-chip designer Arm Holdings also announced that it will build a new hub in Israel, following its purchase of Israel-based Sansa Security, a provider of Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile trust and security technologies, for a reported $100.3 million.

????These exits demonstrate just how valuable Israel’s cyber security expertise has become. “Israel is one of the few countries positioned to become a worldwide cyber leader,” says Mimran. “In the world of cyber, (where there is a) high threat level, such leadership is much needed.”

????And of course, as cyber warfare continues to become a conventional tactic, Israel’s leadership in the space can also help it continue to survive. That’s one reason why the contry continue to focus on preparing its students for future cyber conflicts. “They are teaching coding and application at an early age,” says Coty. “In this way they are already raising the next generation of cyber warriors.”