“We are in currently a perfect storm because extra global complexities are happening while the motivation and the capabilities are at an all-time high. The question is whether this is another inflection point. It’s the nature of the beast, the kind of industry we’re in,” said Nadav Zafrir, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Team8, on the main stage of Cybertech Global Tel Aviv this morning (Tuesday).

“Globalization isn’t where it used to be, global tensions between different nations and economies are persistent, and the inhibitions – or everything that would have stopped cyber from being the first tool in the nation’s took kit isn’t relevant at the moment.  Everything that’s happening will include both nation-states and cyber criminals to be bolder and less inhibited.

“Gen-AI is also changing everything at an unprecedented pace. We’re all using it, all relying on these technologies and becoming increasingly dependent on them.  

“AI is a double-edged sword: there’s AI for security – and security for AI. The first is a huge opportunity to shift the balance between offense and defense. But I don’t think this will happen in the short run, I think it will be a little worse before it gets better.”

So how can we ride out the storm? Zafrir offers some reasons for optimism, saying that innovation is more critical than ever and that here, in Israel, we understand extreme circumstances (“Extremistan”) and know how to deal with them, how to find solutions to big problems and deliver in times of crisis.

Zafrir then led a brief panel on overcoming crises with Dan Benjamin, co-founder & CEO of Dig Security and Ofer Ben-Noon, Co-Founder and CEO of Talon Cyber Security. Both companies have been acquired by Palo Alto Networks.