Appointed: Brigadier General (Res.) Gabriel Portnoy is the National Cyber ​​System director

After more than a month without a head, the cyber array is finally getting a leader. The Prime Minister's Office announced the appointment of Brigadier General (Res.) Gabriel (Gabi) Portnoy to the position of head of the National Cyber ​​System, replacing Yigal Una, who has retired.
Portnoy is a former senior official at the Israel Defense Forces, who holds a number of positions in the division, including the head of the Operations Division, the commander of the field unit (Unit 9900) and the head of the Planning, Standards and Budgets Department. He currently serves as Deputy CEO of the medical high-tech company ENvizion Medical.
Portnoy, 52, holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and management from Shenkar College and a master's degree in business administration (MBA) from the Ono Academic Campus. However, in his biography there is no section related to the cyber world, compared to Una who came from a general security service and had a touch on the subject.
Portnoy's challenges are many and varied, ranging from dealing with the Israeli economy's widespread unpreparedness for cyber attacks, such as last month's attack on Gold Bond computers in the port of Ashdod (a reminder that the Iranians are lurking for companies that do not secure themselves properly); And ending with the promotion of the cyber law, which is still stuck in the Knesset corridors, and trying to adapt local cyber capabilities to the 21st century.
- which actually enabled the successful attack on Hillel Yaffe's computers last year. Add to this the arena of criminal hackers who run ransomware against business purposes, and the size of the mission can be estimated. According to the announcement of the national cyber system, the appointment will be brought to the approval of the government at its next meeting.
Critical infrastructure definitions will also need to change, and hopefully Portnoy will try to add a protection umbrella to the healthcare system here as well, which is not currently included in this definition - which actually enabled the successful attack on Hillel Yaffe computers last year. Add to this the arena of criminal hackers who run ransomware against business purposes, and the size of the mission can be estimated. According to the announcement of the national cyber system, the appointment will be brought to the approval of the government at its next meeting.