Very good question and this article tries to explain why. Some quotes from a very long article:
Nir Zamir, vice-president of marketing for Yoggie, agrees that “Israel’s tremendous wealth of knowledge” about information security is in line with the “strong army and military might of Israel”. He adds: “The industry is growing as the face of the battleground does. We apologise that our technological advantage comes from our army, but at least it’s something good that comes out of the conflict.”
In Israel, at the age of 18 most men and single women are inducted into the Israel Defence Force (IDF), women for two years and men for three. Many IT security experts in Israel agree that this is where the thirst for innovation and need for security is embedded into Israeli citizens. “There are lots of people that come out of the army qualified in security, and develop start-up companies,” says Yaacov Sherban, chief executive for Applicure. “The Israeli government and army have a tremendous need for security and put investments into it – not just IT security, physical security too.”
“We have a culture that knows how to understand the needs of people and security,” says Eyal Adar, founder and chief executive of White Cyber Knight. “The entire architecture of Israel is drawn from risk assessment, a unique ‘know-how’ when it comes to understanding risks. We just engineer security solutions to match each risk.”
The political situation in Israel requires forward planning and a state of high alert, explains Batsheva Iluz, vice-president of business development for Sdema. Iluz argues that an organisation can heighten their security and profitability by creating an inclusive and efficient environment for security, rather than buying one security solution product at a time. “Technology is only part of the solution,” she explains.
Avishi Wood, chief technology officer and co-founder of AlgoSec, says that education rather that the army is the reason for strong research and development and numerous security start-ups. “The army is a melting pot,” he explains, “an effective filter of people. The high-tech units separate the young, intelligent and driven children, they take on responsibility at a very young age and go to university later because of their service in the army.”
“Education is taken more seriously here,” Wood continues. “Students are older and therefore more focused and driven. And this is why we’re seeing so much talent and superior R&D – it’s not just about the military. The industry is booming out here, and all of the innovation coming out of Israel has led to major US companies positioning their development teams out here.”
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Israeli government offered funding to many start-up companies, and Almog Aley-Raz, chief executive of PerSay, believes that to some extent this was the drive for innovation in the IT security sector. Government promotion had a significant impact on the Israeli information security industry, and encouraging start-ups with financial help aimed to keep talent in Israel. “Otherwise, all of the talent would have gone and done this in the US,” says Aley-Raz.
At 4.8% in 2005, Israel claims the highest rate of research and development investment in the world, and reckons it ranks third in entrepreneurship. Large technology companies have opened R&D centres in Israel. Bill Gates explains why Microsoft has established an office in Ra’anana: “For Microsoft, having an R&D centre in Israel has been a great experience…the quality of the people here is fantastic.” With reasons such as motivated staff and an innovative atmosphere enhanced by government-funded research and development programmes, Cisco, Motorola and eBay have also invested in Israeli technology.
Although Eyal Katz of CheckPoint argues that telecommunications has been the largest market to emerge from Israel in the last 12 years in purely economic terms, the success of the information security industry is undeniable. “The thing about Israel is that the cultural influence shines through – Israelis see a huge task and just want to overcome it,” says Katz.
“The security market is only rising”, says Daniel Giron of the industry ministry, but adds: “It’s just a pity that we need it so much.”
And this is the crux of the matter: the Israeli people know that their technology, especially in the information security sector, is among the best in the world. They know that their researchers and developers are amongst the most talented. But they are still burdened with the perhaps unjustified need to have to apologise for it. And that’s what makes this story of growth and success just a little bit tainted.
For those who want to boycott Israel, you could start by boycotting Microsoft, they have invested in Israel. So do not use any Microsoft Products! :) Stop faffing around with Israeli Dates, that's tiny, now if you go after Microsoft, that's a big one.
