Unit 8200: Israel’s Cyber Spies

Compulsory military service. Sounds like hell. Might actually be heaven for some. 

Every Israeli must serve in the military for 2 years and 8 months when they turn 18. When enrolling, they take a test that separates each person into a particular department. The cream of the crop, those who demonstrate an exceptional ability to problem solve, are assigned to the Defence Forces’ largest and arguably their most secretive unit, Unit 8200. The signals collection unit.

What does being a Unit 8200 troop look like?

Being in this unit means being trusted with highly sensitive intelligence information, actively listening for enemy information often generated in various foreign lanuages, tapping network connections, code-making and code-breaking, ensuring their own troops’ communication is sufficiently secure to withstand enemy attack and breaking encryption on enemy transmissions.

The reason I say compulsory military service may be heaven for some people, is because at the age of 18, you would receive some of the world’s best ICT and cyber security training and you would be turned into a value-adding professional within a matter of months. You would help Israel cement its reputation as the most innovative country in the world fighting against constant cyber security attacks.

History of the Unit

Unit 8200 was started in the 1950s by a small group of Israelis who used spy gear from the USA to pick up on covert communications by planting antennas on hills and bugging phone lines. It eventually developed and grew into the IDF coordinated signals collection agency and remains a vital resource for securing the country and preventing cyber attacks on their allies such as the USA.

Attacks

One significant operation included the 2007 attack on a Syrian nuclear facility. Unit 8200 covertly collected information on the facility by photographing it, monitoring deliveries and checking who came in and out until the Israeli government had enough information to strike. It is rumoured that Israel was able to go literally under Syria’s aircraft radar because Unit 8200 developed an electronic warfare aircraft to disable Syria’s air defence system and trick the system to display the skies as clear. This meant the attack stayed a surprise and Israel’s mission succeed with stealth.