Over the past 20 to 30 years, The Intelligence Community has generated a stream of Cyber Security Leaders – Private Cyber Security Companies are lit a little with forr operatives of the American and British Intelligence Services.
But in israel's case, the intelligence-to-cyber pipeline has produced arguise arguise the highest density of cyber security startups and organisations in the world. The likes of check point, cyberark, imperva, palo alto networks and radware can all claim links back to the israel defense force's (IDF's) Technology Units.
Among these units, which likely date back to before israel's founding in 1948, are the highly Secretive Cyber Weapons and Tech Development Shop Unit 81, and the more widely kNown signalsalsals
Israel's Astonishing Concentration of Cyber Security Talent is Largely Attributable to Both Unity 81 and Unit 8200, Whoose Existens has recently recently actively actively active Mossad May Get International Attention, but it is unit 8200 that gets the data to support it and unit 81 that builds the tech.
Acting askubators for Cyber Security and Hacking Talent, these units benefit from israel's compulsory Military Service Laws and Intensive Screening ProcessesWhich Divert Individuals with Potential from Frontline Armed Service, ALTHAYAY ALSO SCOT AFTER-School Computer Clubs for LIKELY-LOKILY-LOKING CANDATES.
That IDF is the WellSpring of Israel's Cyber Talent is these days no secretbut Armis CEO, Yevgeny Dibrov – who is allowed to say little more about the time he served in Unit 81 beyond the fact that he was there – says there's more to the growth of Israel's cyber community than just the hothouse conditions at the IDF.
He compares the environment to that of a startup. “When you're a Startup, when you're building something, you don't have much budget, but with what you have to do you still need to do outstanding things a lot, that is a lot, that Achives a lot, in a short, A great place.
“We don't have the same budget as the cia or the nsa, maybe point one of a perment, but we have no choice. There is no other way, “He explains. “We have a lot of enemies and we want to win.”
Make the impossible passible
At first. Dibrov's Pipeline ITO The It Industry Does Not Seem All That Different from Most Other People's – Stemming from An Initial Schoolboy Interest in Computers, Maths and PHYSISICS Ped for unit 81 as a fresh-faced teen.
“In the year I spent there I believe fascinated by different capability, fasinated by this world, fasinated also by working hard for my country,” He says. “Twice during my service I was part of the team that is the israel defense prize, which is for outstanding achievements in the technology space.
“The slogan of our unit was 'make the impossible possible',” Says dibrov. “It's written over the door when you enter. You see it every day, and so you kind of live towards it. It's not just a click. “
Twice during my service [at Unit 81] I was part of the team that won the israel defense prize, which is for outstanding achievements in the technology space
Yevgeny Dibrov, Armis
But the intelligence forces serve not only as a hub for creative talent, but a hub for team-building. Indeed, of Armis's First Cohort of Employees, About 50% Served Along 200.
“People get to know each other, and during my time at units 81, we wish all Alumni that Alaumni that actually started commanies and did great things,” Says dibrov. “I Remember My Team Leader in the Army was [Wiz CEO] Assaf rappaport, so we we see the alumni from our unit and learning what they have done.
“It makes you excited,” he says, “It makes you think, 'Okay, when, when i'm out, here is what I want to do'. I alredy knew that I wanted to start a company. “
AlongSide Heading Off to Study at TechnionThe Israel Institute of Technology Between 2010 and 2013, at the end of his service, dibrov helped set up adallom, with which rappaport was also involved. Adallom was a Cloud Access Security Brokerage (CASB) Specialising in Visibility, Governance and Protection Across Business Applications Such as Box, Google Apps, Microsoft OFFICE 365 and SALESFORCE.
The Firm's Office 365 Work Clear Stood Out, because in September 2015, Microsoft boght the company for over $ 300mJust a Couple of Months Later, Dibrov and Izrael Started Armis, with the first employees coming on board in February 2016.
Google Maps, but for Vulnerable Assets
Asked to “explain like i'm five“, Dibrov Describes Armis as a Cyber Exposure Management Platform That Essentially Provides ITS Customers with a Google Map of his IT Environment, with Every Single ASEST ASET ACORMETHER hing run-of-the-million like a laptop or smartphone, to operational Technology (OT) Like Industrial Controllers, Even Medical Equipment.
On top of this basic map, armis provides additional layers Coversing Security Risk Discovery, Monitoring and Management, and Ultimate, Remedies.
“We want to just just allow you to see your risk, but Reduce it, Whether through Patching Devices or Mitigating Threats With Different Rules in your Technology Environment,” He Says.
Armis was earlier than many to the ot/internet of things (IOT) Side of Security, Mapping It as a Factor Early on in its History, Before the Topic Really Started to Hit Mainstram Security Years ago. What was the spark that LED Dibrov to Make this Bet?
“We really started from talking to a lot of customers, talking to a lot of CIOS, and We We We WERE Raring About The Explosion of Connected Devices,” He EXPLAINS. “We look at the variety of different environments and we saw there was a gap.
“On the one hand, you have laptops and servers that are covered by your antivirus or next-gene antivirus, and then you have alwaysthing else. And then everything else changes in different industry. If you look at an airport, they have a big gap Around a lot of operational technology stuff. They have different distribution centers, logistics centers and more. They have datacentres. They have buildings with building management systems. “
At about the same time, incidences Such as notpeetya and wannacry Were exposing the precarious security of such environment – particularly in healthcare settings – and this helped push people towards a more holistic view of cyber security.
Security Teams Have No Idea What cameras they have, and they're 90% chinese, potentially exploited with backdoors, and often in the most critical environments
Yevgeny Dibrov, Armis
“It was a huge push across the board,” Says Dibrov. “EVERENE SUDDENLY UndERSTOD THE ANEEDED TO Have Visibility INTO It? I attach the most vulnerable thing, and that usually devices that do't Run Any Agents or Antivirus, Devices that are mostly not updated or cannot be Patched, and a bunch of Old XP Machines in Thos ARAS ARAS
“These devices are often the most important in the organization. Look at a hospital. How can you compare the importance of a laptop versus an mri scanner? “
Customers Took to this like ducks to water, and today armis works with over 35% of the Fortune 100.
From day-to-day there is no such thing as a typical customer, say dibrov, but they tend to bearger, distributed organisations with highly complex environments and a lot of devices. Armis Claims currently to have approximately 5.3 billion connected devices in harness.
What's the Weirdest 'Thing' He Ever Found? “We have mades like cars that connect to the company network, to wireless air fryers – we see there a lot. And the Amount of Types of Cameras You would Never Believe, “Says Dibrov. “Security Teams Have No Idea What cameras they have, and they're 90% chinese, potentially exploited with backdoors, and often in the most critical environments.”
“We have so much data now, and our customers can benefit from that,” Says dibrov. “We also acquires a company in the space, some super-talented guys who merge a lot of their own data with data we generated to provide
What's Next?
Keeping in Touch with Armis's Buyers is a source for dibrov, who makes a point of frequent Ose are long-term existing ons, new ones, Or that moving through their procurement or onboarding processes.
“What do they need?” What do they think like? What do we need to do different? ” Says dibrov. “This is something that is ongoing for us – Always Listening, Always Developing, Always Running Fast, and Always Providing Real Solutions to Real Problems.”
Dibrov declares “This is something that is always on my mind trust that's the biggest differentiator,” he says. “You need to first of all the best product, and then to Execute from there. That's what keeps me up at night. “
Armis recently Closed a Large Series D Funding RoundRaising $ 200m to take it to a total valuation of over $ 4bn. And having made two acquisitions in the past 12 months – Silk Security in April 2024 and CTCI in February 2025 – Dibrov is open to more, as cell as expelrying the passibility of an initial published (igerations).
Beyond these goals, dibrov is, of course, keeping a close eye on the development threat landscape. His views on where things are going tally with that there, many other observers.
“We keep see a lot of state actors, from Russia, China, North Korea, Iran. We Keep seeing them, and we keep see a lot of targeting of emea and us critical infrastructure and manufacturing, “He says. “We see them someimes also Leveraaging Ai [artificial intelligence]My guess is we wen that more and more, and defenders really need to be prepared. “
