Cyber Gym: Israeli hacking school that trains corporate cyber warriors Trainees work in front of their computers at the ��Cyber Gym�� center. Israel s new state-of-the-art ��Cyber Gym�� is where IT and infrastructure company employees train to defend against cyber attacks. The facility is a series of small buildings in the shadow of the looming Orot Rabin power station on Israel s northern coastline. It was inaugurated this month by the Israel Electric Corp (IEC), which has experienced its fair share of cyber attacks. � � ��Israel, we believe, is the most-attacked country,�� Cyber Gym director Ofir Hason said. ��And as the most-attacked civilian company in Israel, this gives us the unique capabilities to train other companies around the world�� to defend against system hacking. IEC itself is subjected to some 10,000 attacks per hour, CEO Eli Glickman said, and the Cyber Gym s instructors are well-versed in the art of cyber warfare. ��We re a group of professionals from the army, security services and (straight) from university,�� said an instructor who called himself ��Mister�� and refused to show his face on camera. Mister launches simulated attacks against the computer systems of the trainees, who sit in an adjacent building. ��It s a playground to simulate real cyber attacks,�� he said while seated in the ��attack room��  a computer nerd s paradise, decorated with Star Wars and Pac-Man murals and lines of code running off wall-mounted screens that show the hacking taking place live. But the work is serious  Cyber Gym s launch was attended by members of Israel s intelligence community  and is designed to put trainees under as much pressure as possible. Trainees  mostly IT and systems workers from energy and infrastructure companies  sit in the ��defence room�� experiencing the hacks in real time, and their progress is scrutinised by another instructor, who refers to himself only as ��A��. ��Each attack is different, so there s no way for the defence teams to cheat. There s no set scenario or scripted attack; they re performed in a different way, live, by the hackers next door,�� he said. ��If the hackers succeed, the lights go off and the system shuts down,�� he says, in what is a simulation of just one potential result of a successful attack. Plunging the room into darkness is one of a number of ways the centre shows the practical outcome of a cyber attack, which can often be forgotten when the fight is conducted in the ether. ��An attack could end with damage to equipment, or a blackout around Israel,�� Mr Hason said. ��In the cyber arena, when you fail to protect your system, the influence could be physical damage to your system.�� Israel s politicians and generals often warn of the dangers of hacking. Last month, the armed forces chief of staff painted a grim picture of a future war in which the Jewish state comes under simultaneous attack both on the ground and in cyber space. ��It is possible that there will be a cyber attack on a site supplying the daily needs of Israeli citizens; that traffic lights would stop working or the banks would be paralysed,�� Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told a security conference in October. Around the same time, the Israeli security services reportedly thwarted a cyber attack and an attempt at industrial espionage that originated in China. And in June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused arch-enemy Iran of stepping up cyber attacks against Israel, including through its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. But Cyber Gym and IEC executives were tight-lipped about where most of the attacks against their systems come from. From ��all over the world��, said Mr Glickman, declining to give specifics. Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, who attended Cyber Gym s inauguration, was equally enigmatic. ��We can t give you any specific details,�� he said. For now, Cyber Gym is primarily reaching out to Israeli companies, but it is hoping to branch out further. ��There s a possibility it will be opened up to American companies, western Europe, eastern Europe and Asia,�� IEC vice president Yaakov Haim said. In the meantime, the trainees are working hard amid a tranquil setting of green lawns and fruit trees laden with unpicked oranges, on the front lines of a new battlefield. Asked whether Israel was more concerned about a physical or a virtual attack, Mr Shalom said: ��I think the future battle will be in cyber space.�� Via News.com.au Share ThisSubscribedel.icio.usFacebookRedditStumbleUponTechnorati