Israeli modern center of cyber security

The southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva is used to protecting the frontier. During Roman times, it was a dusty outpost that formed part of the Limes Arabicus, a series of desert fortresses defending the empire from raiding tribes. Earlier, the Bible repeatedly cited Beer Sheva as the southern civilised limit of the Israelite kingdoms.

Even today, tourists in Beer Sheva can visit the remains of the fortress that guarded the borders of biblical Israel. But today the frontier is the internet and Beer Sheva offers protection of the electronic sort. The city is rapidly becoming a global centre of cyber security technology.  

Israel exports more cyber security-related products and services than all other countries in the world combined, excluding the US. Reports from 2015 show the tiny country making 10% of all global sales in cyber security products and attracting 20% of global investment in the sector.
Much of that investment is centred on the desert city of Beer Sheva, where Israel has constructed a hub for cyber security research and development. Those investments are bolstered by the city’s physical proximity to Israel’s military technological intelligence units and the burgeoning Ben Gurion University, a significant research institution. 
At an early stage, Israel identified cyber security as an area of national importance. The small country’s technological skills and continuous concerns over security made cyber security a natural arena for national investment.
In 2010, Israel adopted its National Cyber Initiative, which established a National Cyber Bureau to advise the government on cyber security matters, encouraging co-operation between academia, industry and the defence community, and advancing Israel as a global centre of cyber technology.
Since then, the bureau has, in co-operation with other government agencies, allocated almost $100m to foster entrepreneurship and academic excellence in the field. The Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist, another government agency, has adopted a preferential policy for funding private initiatives in cyber security research and development.
In addition to the Beer Sheva centre, the bureau has also helped to establish a second academic cyber security centre at Tel-Aviv University. This latter centre has a broad interdisciplinary focus, which includes political science and legal issues.
Israel has constructed a set of institutions that allow for the informal flow of high-level cyber security information. Although such informal sharing cannot provide a basis for real-time response to cyber attacks, it perhaps provides a fertile bed for the development of long-term strategy and the growth of commercial ventures. 
Long after its Roman garrisons had disappeared into the desert dust, Beer Sheva played a pivotal role in British military history. Towards the end of the Second World War, General Edmund Allenby and a company of parched light horsemen overpowered the Turkish battlements that were defending the city. Once again, Beer Sheva showed its critical role in defending the Holy Land – after the battle, Jerusalem and the rest of the country swiftly fell into British hands.
Today, the cyber hub of Beer Sheva is reprising its central role in military and civilian defence, but the battlefield now plays out in digital bits instead of the arid desert, and the weapons are innovation and information-sharing rather than trenches and bayonets. And Israel is hoping these digital swords can be beaten into instruments of commercial success.