April 4, 2016
20% of all Israeli high-tech companies are engaged in cybersecurity, making it the country’s biggest sector.
It is no secret that Israel is a world leader in cybersecurity solutions. According to the National Cyber Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office, Israel exports of cybersecurity solutions totaled $6 billion in 2014 – 8% of the global market’s total of $71.7 billion.
North America and Europe (mainly the US and the UK) naturally account for most of this total, but the Asian Pacific region has a much higher growth rate, and the countries leading industrial growth in this region are China and India.
Although Israel is neither the US, the UK, nor China, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch devotes a separate, albeit small, section in its report to Israel’s contribution to the global industry, writing, “Israel stands out as a leader in small specialists; due to its political position and history, it has a very focused agenda to produce leading-edge solutions for the military/intelligence community (although, like the UK, there is a long history of its best startups being acquired by larger overseas players, mainly in the US). Israel is considered an international leader in cybersecurity with its “Unit 8200,” which is the largest intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). For instance, in 2014, Israel exported more than $6 billion in cybersecurity products, which was double the total in 2013.