Assaf Levanon
Tel Aviv, Dubai, New York, Mumbai, Sydney, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, and soon even in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The common denominator for all of these and other many large cities in the world is that they are all on the cyber map for the CyTaka World Championship designed for hackers and programmers, and as Doron Amir calls them – Cyber Programmers. Amir founded the CyTaka (World Cyber Championship for Programmers) in 2020 as a means to create the largest cyber community in the world – with prize winning competitions and opportunities to show and upgrade cyber skills competitively and sportingly, and to even leave with prize-money, a high-tech position or prestigious cyber-excellence award.
Amir explains: "The World Cyber Championship for Programmers began as a social project. My intention was to create a new hybrid called a 'Cyber Programmer', who is a cyber expert that comes from the world of programming, without necessarily having any background in cyber or intelligence, and without any connection to any military background. If a programmer can write code that listens to a network printer or computer keyboard – then with the correct direction that code can be converted into various cyber actions. For someone like that, the road to expertise is shorter than for those lacking the background required for more prolonged training within military units such as 8200. Unlike the IDF, we do not produce military cyber, moreover, we focus on civilian cyber that provides an answer to a civilian's modern-day environment. For example, civilians are more concerned about their Tik-Tok or Instagram accounts than Iran's nuclear program".
"Artificial Intelligence has abducted the crown from the cyber realm, but it does not provide a solution to the shortage of manpower in this field and this is it's task for the coming years"
So 'The Best in Cyber' has replaced 'The Best are Pilots' but what is it like being under direct attack from the IDF Chief of Staff?
"It is criticism, not an attack. I don't think anyone could survive an attack by the IDF Chief of Staff who, as far as I am concerned, is the most powerful person in the world. Exactly a year ago, in December 2021, I advertised on billboards in Herzliya with the slogan 'The Best in Cyber' – and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi criticized it scathingly, something that had never before happened in Israel – and in addition, this happened at the most prestigious event in the IDF, the Pilot's course graduation ceremony, in the presence of the President of Israel and the Minister of Defense. Despite it being a complete surprise, I responded quickly in order to protect the venture and to explain that the message called for equal opportunities and that we were coming from the same place – to mend the gaps between the cyber technology people and fighters in the field. And now, a year later it is apparent that the IDF has also adopted my approach, or perhaps inspired by 'The Best in Cyber' venture, they have chosen to award cyber warriors with prizes. It is encouraging to see the IDF follow my approach and publish that they award up to 200,000 Shekels to cyber experts who remain in the army. There is no doubt that the fighters are the best, but also the Best are in Cyber and this combines excellently, just like the soldier-technology combination which can be seen amongst the 'Armored Shield Protection (Trophy) technology that provides a technological envelope of safety for the armored corps soldiers. Cyber and soldiers together in the field form a strong and smart IDF".
Doron Amir (top center) gives the command to attack the IP address on the screen to the hacking experts that reached the finals in the Cyber Championship (Photo: Herschel Guttman)It is best for the Country; the competition winners are snapped up for cyber jobs on their way to the stage.
Doron Amir volunteered for combat service during his time in the military. After his discharge from the IDF he began to specialize in programming, data security and cyber, taught and lectured on the subject in universities and at the Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology (as an authorized lecturer on behalf of the external studies unit). At the same time, he continued consulting on these subjects to many entities, in Israel and abroad, including government and securities entities, through the company he established.
"A hacker with good intuition knows better and faster, in some scenarios, how to attack or defend compared to a hacking machine based on artificial intelligence that works methodologically and without intuition, despite the machine having dramatically higher calculative and analytical abilities'
"We give opportunities to those that did not serve in 8200 and did not take the typical cyber route", says Amir. "We reach everywhere in the country, from the furthest South to the greenest North, and while everyone is talking about gaps, we are busy seeking out the geniuses, no matter where they were born or who their parents are. Even if they have no connections, if they win our cyber competitions (and not only first place) – there is a chance that within 24 hours they will find jobs in cyber and be seated next to the 8200 geniuses. The competition winners are snapped up for cyber jobs on their way to the stage.
What other challenges are currently facing the cyber world, other than the manpower shortage?
"Current perception of cyber is that of a security tool, suited for the IDF or other national security organizations. And indeed, a significant portion of the field deals with security threats, however, the general public is also exposed to cyber-attacks on a personal level – and there is no proper response available. A simple civilian cyber-attack is comprised of the same strategic elements that lead to national cyber-attacks. For example: a cyber attack on a group of contacts connected to a family member of a prime minister anywhere in the world can reach that prime minister and cause injury. In other words, a simple civilian cyber attack becomes national and deadly in the same way that civilian pilot licenses were used for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA. Most people are not aware of this – they live naively in a modern bubble and think that social media can be used at any age and however you want, but it inevitably is a non-sterile region and there are prying eyes. The Internet is not a pharmacy, and wherever there are people there are mistakes, trickery and plotting. Cyber and human rights do not always go together. To me, it seems surreal to discuss terms of privacy when throughout the web, people initiate the exposure of personal details, photos, and location updates in real time. An attacker can, by using simple correlations, create a bank of quality and updated targets to plan various and varied cyber-attacks, which is why we need to increase the number of cyber people in countries that want technological independence and modern life. In the same way as in the military, Today, there is no such thing as being a fighter or a pilot without intelligence, cyber and technology so can there be no modern country without cyber abilities including an assertive response to cyber events in small businesses or the daily lives of civilians. All attack and defense mechanisms are temporary and with time weaknesses are uncovered or sophisticated tools are created making the cyber of yesterday meaningless, in the same way as a Native Indian proudly demonstrates his new breakthrough bow and arrow with new abilities to shot 30 arrows per minute, while you suggest to him using a machine gun that can fire 6,000 bullets per minute! One cannot be complacent despite all the protective organizations, starting with National Defense and ending with anti-virus and other security services that exist today. However, there is a need to create more cyber security solutions ranging from first aid to all round attack responses, including focused technological sabotage of attack sources in order to shut them down and create stoppage and deterrence which requires a more available civilian cyber-attack force that can operate more excessively and faster.
Where is offensive cyber currently and what needs to be done?
"There is a lot to do. Mainly, a change needs to be made in the stalemate on the subject of offensive cyber, which happened following the NSO affair, which according to publications, sold offensive cyber tools to combat crime but their clients used these tools for other political needs. Dealing with this subject eventually formed a situation of once bitten, twice shy. Its like selling a salad knife to a customer who then uses it as a murder weapon – and the following day the law will permit the sale of butter knives only. I prefer to raise the subject at every relevant opportunity, for example, I raised the subject at a meeting in memory of General and Head of Mossad, the late Meir Dagan, before the Supreme Court President Hon. Judge Esther Hayut, who gently advised approaching the regulator on this subject. There is no doubt that regulation is needed to create the framework, however, I think that a wider discussion on the subject needs to happen and order must be brought to the chaos in the field, that can clarify for the companies selling or operating offensive cyber mechanisms – to use their technology to prevent crimes and create active defense, and not to build terrorist networks or to harm human rights. Without offensive cyber, the public will be exposed and will lose their most basic individual rights. There is no place for the weak in the binary rules of the dark web".
"To me, it seems surreal to discuss terms of privacy when throughout the web, people initiate the exposure of personal details, photos, and location updates in real time. An attacker can, by using simple correlations, create a bank of quality and updated targets to plan various and varied cyber-attacks"
The mission: Using cyber to defend civilians in the modern life around the world
Alongside the criticism, there are many good deeds that assist in promoting civilian cyber taking it to an educational and moral level, especially in Israel. Support comes from all ends of the political range, educationists, military and security and anywhere there is a desire to promote technological education and cyber employment direction.
"The first cyber competition in Israel was given the blessing of former Head of Mossad Danny Yatom, when we held a cyber competition for 50 hackers in Tel Aviv. We continued to create a combination of competitions between peripheral and central cities such as the Cyber Negev Cyber Championship held in the south of Israel, Sde Boker (in the Negev). Cyber experts competed against other cyber experts who attacked them from our company offices in the Center of Israel, Herzliya. The former Ex Director of Israel's National Cyber Directorate, Yigal Unna, who is also a member of the company's Advisory board, attended the competition. The Cyber Champion Medal named after Meir Dagan was awarded at that competition by the former IDF Chief of Staff (and current MK) Gadi Eisenkot, who made an inspiring speech about excellence and leadership. At another event in the north of Israel (Kiryat Ata), a cyber championship was held with the participation of Mayor Yaakov Peretz, who acted and promoted the National Cyber Day thereby enabling us to reach hundreds of students in the region who participated and prove cyber and software skills. The contents of the cyber challenges in the competition were unique and inspired by cyber issues in the medical field. The event was encouraged by officials from the medical world and other dignitaries. So far, cyber competitions have taken place throughout Israel, with the Israeli Championship held at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv. 100 hackers competed including the Red Team, with cyber experts from industry and teams of other hackers that competed for the title of Israeli Cyber Champion. We are currently organizing the Cyber Championship of the North in Kiryat Shmona with support of the Town Mayor Avichai Stern, and at the competition, competitors who submit unique cyber challenges will win, and the most unique cyber challenge will be demonstrated at the World Cyber Championship in Dubai 2023. As far as I am concerned, presenting a cyber challenge that was written from a student in Kiryat Shmona or in an Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem on an international stage, is far beyond a cyber competition – it is a mission".
The cyber war between the south (Negev) and center (Herzliya) – cyber warriors attack the team in Herzliya, which returns the attack (Photo: Baranga Elad)"In Israel whether in a central location or in the peripheral, there are smart people that want to deal with cyber. The door is open to everyone", says Amir. "When I am abroad and say I am from Israel most people ask if I am from Tel Aviv – because that is what they know or what they want to understand, but Zionism is also to present to the world that there are other towns in Israel from the far south to the distant north. Every cyber champion from Israel that receives a prize also promotes the town they represent to remind the world that there are many more towns in Israel, not just Tel Aviv".
"Like Israel the world is interested in sharing the cyber problems and solutions worldwide and being that cyber is a very broad field that is present in various categories, the more cyber experts and hackers there are with a different way of thinking and with different methods and methodologies, then we as a global community, will be better prepared for cyber scenarios. That is why the Abraham Accords brought Israel unique opportunities and when, for example, we hold a cyber championship in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, you can see the best hackers not only from the United Arab Emirates, but also cyber experts and hackers from India, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, China and other countries that despite Israel not having diplomatic ties with some of these countries, competitors from everywhere in the world still attend, and the championship serves as the cyber Olympics, without politics, and only achievements in cyber skills and that is the discussion at every cyber championship with a clear agenda that civilian cyber is designed for the public without any military or government needs.
This year in Dubai, we will hold the World Cyber Championship in January 2023, where we will award the winner with the largest prize ever awarded so far and will declare who is the best hacker in the world. More than 10,000 people have already registered and submitted their applications for the competition out of our 200,000 members. We will be able to select only the very best from among them including winners of previous competitions that won local championships. There are other championships planned for Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. We will come to share and challenge the best minds in the world wherever there is an opening for peace".
And the participants from Arab countries, do they not have any problem participating in an event organized by an Israeli company?
"This is a platform that does not touch on nationality; everyone cooperates and shows great respect. The interests in the competition are Global and the emphasis is on the Global cyber issue and not that of Israel, Iran, the United Arab Emirates or anywhere else in the world. Attribution to a certain country is not relevant for the purpose of competing at the World Cyber Championship. In the competition we leverage CyTaka's unique platform that includes thousands of cyber challenges and we seat the Iranian hacker alongside the Indian hacker and the Israeli hacker next to the Palestinian hacker from Gaza or Ramallah and all so that eventually there will be positive sharing of information that will protect the citizens of the world, and although it may appear to look strange, this is not new, as, I am certain that in the NASA organization of geniuses, no one cares where you were born or what religion you believe in, but rather how you promote humanity to a better place. Whenever I see a mixed group of nationalities cooperating and creating cyber scenarios and challenges together – I understand that we have progressed somewhat in the mission of making cyber globally-civilian, belonging to civilians and not only to the military and intelligence systems. British, Japanese, Iranian, American etc., citizens will all be at risk if they arrive for medical treatment at a hospital that is under cyber attack or any other scenario. The cyber-attacks are unforeseen, have no moral or ideology besides greed, and, therefore, hackers dealing in cybercrimes are an anonymous enemy causing injury to us all and not any particular nationality".
What additional value do you generate from your competitions?
"Their publicity enables civilians to understand that there is a new community of experts focused on cyber which they will be able to consult with on various cyber issues. A civilian whose computer or smartphone has been hacked is quite helpless, as they do not really have options available to go to government or military organizations. But thanks to the competitions and the subjects we explore, they understand that cyber belongs to the public and that cyber can also resolve personal problems relating to daily life.
"It is encouraging to see the IDF follow my approach and publish that they award up to 200,000 Shekels to cyber experts who remain in the army. There is no doubt that the fighters are the best, but also the Best are in Cyber"
What have you to say about the huge value of cyber companies in the industry?
Amir doesn't talk about exits or complex business models, as far as he is concerned every company that is a Unicorn has to prove and justify it's billion-dollar valuation as soon as possible and progress towards becoming a Centaur (a company with yearly revenues of at least $100 million) and not perform an exit because of its valuation. "We will see more cyber companies that will in the future reach valuations of hundreds of billions of dollars and even a trillion dollars valuation for a cyber company could be realistic with relation to offensive cyber activities which will only increase over time all over the world and will justify the profitability of the cyber companies and of their astronomical value, just like Apple and Google, who have past the trillion-dollar valuation long ago which wasn't so realistic when they started out. Until now we are discussing an international project of positive-cyber education, with the prize monies originating from fund raising and sponsorships designed for this, in addition to the research and development of defense and training products. It is not simple to be simple, however, that is what it's all about. I am more interested in who will be the World Cyber Champion, an intuitive hacker or an academic hacker".
What do you mean by an intuitive or academic hacker?
We create challenges that involve various scenarios, based on what we have already seen and what may happen. A hacker with good intuition knows better and faster, in some scenarios, how to attack or defend compared to a hacking machine based on artificial intelligence that works methodologically and without intuition, despite the machine having dramatically higher calculative and analytical abilities. In our cyber competitions I also see that the intuitive hacker is more effective and even lethal, but in the field of defense there are systems where knowledge based on an intuitive background is lacking. A system that builds an ultimate defense must also have an academic hacker, who knows science at a top level and is able to analyze at a precise level to get more effectively in-depth compared to the autodidact like a 'wild animal' that lives on the web and whose skills are somewhat different. The union creates completion".
What was the defining moment of your career?
The defining moment is with us always at all times. Sometimes we forget that getting up in the morning is not to be taken for granted. It can be said that the Abraham Accords had a huge positive impact on the venture and that is a gift from the brave leaders that led to the peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates. I, as an Israeli, can only be grateful and leverage this rare opportunity to flourish in an era of peace. Alongside my career trajectory, I have learned one important thing. If you believe in something that will do good for this world, you will never regret it, compared to those that do not act but only dream or complain".
Where is the cyber world at the end of 2022 and what is the forecast for 2023?
"Artificial Intelligence has abducted the crown from the cyber realm, but it does not provide a solution to the shortage of manpower in this field and this is its task for the coming years, alongside improving the cyber abilities over many fields including combatting terror and far-reaching improvements in the business world. I would not go into forecasts for the field of cyber, it is not the climate, there are more options than partially cloudy or rainy, it is obvious that we will see more offensive cyber activity and the damages from cybercrimes will be more violent and will continue to increase the market value of the cyber field, however sooner or later we will need more power in the field globally.
What is your vision for the future?
"The vision is to reach 10 million information security experts, hackers and programmers in our cyber community and to offer whoever has a civilian cyber problem the possibility of receiving an available and speedy professional response. We have a professional community that is mostly voluntary and deals in positive cyber for purposes of protecting and defending civilians from various cyber-attacks and is light years away from the image of a private cyber army or Lord of War
Doron Amir – CEO and founder of CyTaka
Age: 47
Marital status: Married + 2
Residence: Raanana
Previous positions: CEO of cyber companies, Vice President of technologies at international companies.
Hobbies: Scuba diving, sports cars and motorbikes.
Driving motto: When you have to shoot, shoot; don't talk
Personal dream to accomplish: a cyber competition in space with Elon Musk
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