Gil Baram

Stanford University | SU · Center for International Security and Cooperation

Historically, offensive cyber operations (OCOs) have been considered a practice that states could carry out covertly, away from the public eye, with both perpetrators and defenders having incentives to remain silent. Over the past few years, however, perpetrators and defenders have publicly acknowledged their involvement in OCOs. How common is this...

Since April 2020, the mutual cyberattacks of Israel and Iran have emerged from the shadows and become more intense, with the international news media regularly publishing reports on the trading of cyber salvos. While cyberattacks are typically conducted in the shadows under a cloud of secrecy, the latest round of attacks between Israel and Iran has...

A growing reliance of civil and military sectors on space services has led to a growing array of cyber threats to space systems. Amid the growing threat landscape to the space sector, NATO may assume a leading role in coordinating a comprehensive unified framework to address the emerging challenges.

In late April, Israeli media reported on a possible cyberattack on several water and sewage treatment facilities around the country. Israel’s national water agency initially spoke of a technical malfunction, but later acknowledged it was a cyberstrike. According to Israeli officials, the event caused no damage other than limited disruptions in loca...

Autonomous systems based on artificial intelligence are playing an increasingly meaningful role in everyday life in a variety of fields, including industry, medicine, the economy, and security. Because they are computerized, these systems are exposed to coding errors, which may lead to incorrect decision making and the execution of unwanted actions...

Today space is an arena with a significant impact on the security, military, economy, and daily routines of many countries around the world and has attracted many stakeholders. As a result, global interest in the development of weapons for use in space-a process known as the "space arms race"-has increased. The purpose of this article is to present...

Why is Israel world-renowned as the ‘start-up nation’ and a leading source of technological innovation? While existing scholarship focuses on the importance of skill development during Israel Defense Forces (IDF) service, we argue that the key role of the Academic Reserve has been overlooked. Established in the 1950s as part of David Ben-Gurion’s v...

Anonymity is considered to be a key characteristic of cyber conflict. Indeed, existing accounts in the literature focus on the advantages of the non-disclosure of cyber attacks. Such focus inspires the expectation that countries would opt to maintain covertness. This hypothesis is rejected in an empirical investigation we conducted on victims’ stra...

The paper reviews the main strategic trends in cyber policy and security in recent years, pointing out the emergence of a new ‘cyber escalation cycle’: while states are investing significant resources to improve their offensive cyber capabilities, these capabilities are subsequently being stolen, publicised and used by hostile countries to launch d...

In the past few years, there has been growing recognition of the importance of international cooperation concerning cyberwarfare norms. To this end, a number of international forums have been established, but as of now, they have had limited success. We recognize three major challenges to the success these forums: (1) the problem of trust, (2) vary...

What can explain the phenomenal success of the Israeli high-tech and cyber eco-system? While existing explanations focus on technological units of the Israel Defense Forces-and their important role in developing the skills of their veterans who join the high-tech industry after finishing their military service-we argue that current scholarship has...

The present paper reviews the main cyber events of 2016 from the perspective of governments. It outlines and analyzes key identifiable trends in cyber activities and policies worldwide such as the establishment of special national cyber strategies, enhancing research and development efforts, and strengthening international cyber collaborations and...

The present report reviews the main space events of 2016, and analyzes key trends in the space activity of states, in relation to matters such as industrial and technological development, space research, and collaborations. The report also lists the main events by several individual states which are the main space-faring nations as of today.

The present paper reviews the main strategic trends in cyber policy and security for 2017, pointing out the emergence of a new" Cyber Escalation Cycle:" while states are investing significant resources to improve their offensive cyber capabilities, these capabilities are subsequently being stolen, publicized and used by hostile countries to launch...

The present report reviews the main space events of 2016, and analyzes key trends in the space activity of states, in relation to matters such as industrial and technological development, space research, and collaborations. The report also lists the main events by several individual states which are the main space-faring nations as of today. The to...

From the early days of statehood, technology occupied a prominent place in Israel's national security concept as it sought to establish a qualitative edge over its vastly more populated and better endowed Arab adversaries. In the past few years, a new technological challenge, that of cyber warfare, has grown to the point of becoming among the most...

This report reviews the principal events of 2015 in the field of space, and analyzes the major trends that can be identified in the space activities of governments. Such areas as cooperation in space activity, space security, space exploration and research, technological development and more are addressed. In addition, the principal occurrences in...

This article addresses the principal events of 2014 in the field of space activities, and extrapolates from them the primary trends that can be identified in governmental space activities. In 2014, global space activities centered on two vectors. The first was geopolitical, and the second relates to the matrix between increasing commercial space ac...

The growing use of information technology, monitoring, and control through computerized control systems, together with the increasing dependence of the free market on products and services supplied through infrastructure (for example, electric power), have increased interdependency between infrastructures. Consequently, an attack on critical infras...

This report surveys the principal space events of 2013 and analyzes the central trends that can be discerned in government space activities in nations around the world. The article refers to cooperation between countries, to trends in space security, and reviews the space policies and activities of the leading nations as well as emerging ones. The...

The past decade has witnessed rapid developments in computers and information technology, leading to far reaching changes in almost all areas of life, including the military and defense spheres. Many changes have occurred in the nature of warfare and the design of military forces, owing, among other things, to developments in strategic thinking and...