Israel: A Big Data Powerhouse

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The security establishment, the IDF and the Intelligence Corps, in addition to foreign civilian organizations, all use Israeli systems for security and operation of big data and information databases, allowing users to make decisions based on quick, precise information.

Some of these Israeli companies, who produce and market these platforms in Israel and globally, presented their innovations at the recent Big Data Conference organized by iHLS.

The Ness company, explained Shmuel Shaked, offers its client a new concept: Not a completely new system, but using the client’s existing security and information systems and adding its platform on top, a platform that allows users to analyze organizational big data databases. The Ness platform is already in use by the Israeli security establishment and by a “foreign governmental client.”

IBM offers its clients several aspects of big data: Intelligence security, information storage, operational analysis of data, while combining all these in order to allow users to make real time decisions. “It’s important to stop a financial fraud or a terrorist attack before they take place,” said IBM’s Ronen Simantov. IBM Israel offers a platform for storing and analyzing organizational information called “Data Warehouse”, capable of “fixing” incomplete information in order to enable analysts – the human element in the information system – to make the correct decisions.

Meir Cohen, representing Mer Security, explained his company’s solution: “We combined technologies in order to offer complete support to intelligence organizations, from the first stages of intelligence gathering to the final intelligence package. This applies to civilian organizations as well, such as financial organizations – all aimed at supplying users with actionable intelligence.” Military intelligence gathering involves many parameters, such as threat identification, understanding the situation inside enemy armies or terror organizations, all using information collected by scanners, human elements (HUMINT) or by electronic (SIGINT, ELINT) and visual information: All this data enters the system, undergoes analysis and provides users with the ability to reach conclusions and make operational decisions.

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

According to Elbit Systems “size does matter” when it comes to big data. For this reason the company established its own cyber and intelligence unit. Aaron Eilat: “Today there’s a need to process the massive amount of gathered information, analyze it and somehow translate it into our operational world of client-users.” Elbit’s platform is called WIT, a “smart intelligence technology,” based on Elbit experience and applied to clients’ information. The final product provides analysts with complete actionable intelligence. WIT connects to various data sources such sensors and databases, all modified to fit the analyst’s work environment.

WE Ankor presented a platform aimed at the business and security sectors, providing clients with a variety of information processing capabilities: identifying a single detail in a mass of communication transmissions, organizing massive amounts of information, allowing analysts to look for unusual, suspicious behavior.

The APP SECLABS company presents secure coding applications for databases, allowing developers to design information systems in a secure environment. Usually information stored in big data databases isn’t encrypted, although encryption is necessary when users need to protect sensitive information.

LIACOM offers consulting services for infrastructure operators and HLS organizations. SPORMAS, LIACOM’s representative in Israel, gave 9/11 as an example: U.S. authorities had shards of information on the terrorists, but no one could connect them and form a coherent whole. The process involves many elements: Incident collection processes, investigation, information analysis and dissemination – all these form an intelligence picture that aims to facilitate readiness, response capabilities and post-incident restoration efforts.