You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Hebrew. (April 2024)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Hebrew article.
Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Hebrew Wikipedia article at [[:he:יחידה 8200]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template{{Translated|he|יחידה 8200}} to thetalk page.
The unit is composed primarily of 18–21 year olds. As a result of the youth of the soldiers in the unit, and the shortness of their service period, the unit relies on selecting recruits with the ability for rapid adaptation and speedy learning.[7] Afterschool programs for 16–18 year olds, teaching computer coding and hacking skills, also serve as feeder programs for the unit.[8] Former Unit 8200 soldiers have gone on to found and occupy top positions in many international IT companies, including inSilicon Valley.[8][9]
According to the Director of Military Sciences at theRoyal United Services Institute in 2015, "Unit 8200 is probably the foremost technical intelligence agency in the world and stands on a par with the NSA in everything except scale."[10]
Subordinate to Unit 8200 is Unit Hatzav (Hebrew name forDrimia (Hebrew:יחידת חצב)), responsible for collectingOSINTintelligence. The unit monitors and collectsmilitary intelligence–related information fromtelevision,radio,newspapers, and theinternet. The translation of various items accounts for part of what is termed "basic intelligence", which is collected by the units.
The IDF's most important signal intelligence–gathering installation is theUrim SIGINT Base, a part of Unit 8200. Urim is located in the Negev desert approximately 30 km from Beersheba.[12] In March 2004, the Commission to investigate the intelligence network following the War in Iraqrecommended turning the unit into a civilian national SIGINT agency, as is in other Western countries, but this proposal was not implemented.[citation needed]
Staff
Unit 8200 is staffed primarily by 18–21 year old conscripts. Selection and recruitment to the unit usually occurs at age 18 through the IDF screening process after high school. The unit also scouts potential younger recruits through after school computer classes.[8] These after-school computer classes, teaching 16–18 year olds computer coding and hacking skills, sometimes act as feeder programs for the unit, with students receiving invitation letters from the IDF.[8]
The 18-year-olds selected for the unit are primarily chosen for their ability to teach themselves and to learn very quickly as the unit will only have access to their services for a short time before their military service period ends.[7]
Soldiers are not permitted to publicly disclose that they are part of the unit, or their role within it.[13]
Unit 8200 is led by a commander and a deputy commander, the latter holding the rank ofcolonel.[14] The identities of both officers are kept secret.[3][4] An additional command role is that of the "Data Science and AI Commander".[15]
On 11 September 2013,The Guardian released a leaked document provided byEdward Snowden which reveals how Unit 8200, referred to as ISNU, receives raw, unfiltered data of U.S. citizens, as part of a secret agreement with the U.S.National Security Agency[29]
According to Peter Roberts, the Director of Military Sciences at theRoyal United Services Institute, "Unit 8200 is probably the foremost technical intelligence agency in the world and stands on a par with theNSA in everything except scale. They are highly focused on what they look at — certainly more focused than the NSA — and they conduct their operations with a degree of tenacity and passion that you don't experience elsewhere."[30]
In 2010, the French newspaperLe Monde diplomatique wrote that Unit 8200 operates alarge SIGINT base in theNegev, one of the largest listening bases in the world, capable of monitoring phone calls, emails, and other communications, throughout theMiddle East,Europe,Asia, andAfrica, as well as tracking ships. Unit 8200 also reportedly maintains covert listening posts in Israeli embassies abroad, taps undersea cables, maintains covert listening units in thePalestinian territories, and hasGulfstream jets equipped with electronic surveillance equipment.[12]
Duqu
Duqu is a collection of computer malware discovered on 1 September 2011. Non-Israeli sources routinely state it to be the creation of Unit 8200.[31][32]
Unit 8200 was established in 1952 using primitive surplus American military equipment. Originally, it was called the 2nd Intelligence Service Unit and then the 515th Intelligence Service Unit. In 1954, the unit moved fromJaffa to its current base at the Glilot junction.[33]
Ronen Bergman says in a 2009 book that aHezbollah bomb, disguised as acell phone, was picked up by agents, and taken for investigation to Unit 8200's headquarters in February 1999. Basic safety protocols were neglected. The device never underwent the necessary x-ray procedures meant to ensure it was explosives-free. Inside the laboratory the cell phone exploded. Two Unit 8200 soldiers were severely injured, one losing a hand.[34]
In 2010,The New York Times cited "a former member of the United States intelligence community" alleging that this unit used a secret kill switch to deactivate Syrian air defenses duringOperation Orchard.[35]
In 2014, 43 veterans of Unit 8200 signed a protest letter decrying what they called the electronic surveillance unit's abusive gathering of Palestinians' private information.[36][37][38] In response, 200 other reservists signed a counter-protest letter.[39][40][41]
According to a 2017The New York Times article, the Unit 8200's hack ofKaspersky Lab allowed them to watch in real time as Russian government hackers searched computers around the world for American intelligence programs.[42] Israelis who had hacked into Kaspersky’s own network alerted the United States to the broad Russian intrusion of US systems.[42]
October 7, 2023 attacks
In the failure to forecast theOctober 7 attacks by Israel's intelligence agencies, Unit 8200 was blamed for having underestimated Hamas activities.[43] Unit 8200 is alleged to have stopped listening to Hamas'shandheld radios in 2022, deciding it was a "waste of effort". Monitoring that radio network might have helped theShin Bet realize a few hours before the attack that the unusual activity they were seeing on the Gaza border was not just another military exercise by Hamas,Times of Israel noted.[44] TheNew York Times reported in November that a veteran analyst in Unit 8200 had warned in July that Hamas were preparing for a cross-border attack and that the analyst's concerns were dismissed by senior military leadership as "totally imaginative".[45]
The "Spotters", known astatzpitaniyot, are female members of the IDF who observe the barriers along the border and activate complex technological systems to prevent the enemy from penetrating into Israel. Their responsibilities have been described as a "difficult, cognitively and emotionally demanding job that entails hours of closely monitoring surveillance cameras, with the knowledge that missing even the slightest unusual event along the border could have disastrous effects on the entire country" but "[t]hey didn’t miss Hamas' preparations for the October 7 attack"; one was quoted as saying, "We were all seeing Hamas militants training for exactly what happened: We saw them training to crash the fence, training to kill civilians, training to take back hostages" and another stated "We knew this would happen. We warned the higher ups. But they ignored us. They told us that they know better, even though this is our job—we have to know every tree, every tent, every pothole in our section, and especially to know when something unusual is happening. And we do."[46][47][48] Only two of thetatzpitaniyot on duty on 7 October 2023 evaded death or abduction.[49]
In March 2024,The New York Times reported thatCorsight andGoogle Photos were being used in a facial recognition program by Unit 8200 to surveilPalestinians inGaza amid theGaza war. Intelligence officers told theTimes that the unit uploads databases of known faces to the service and uses its search functions to identify individuals. AGoogle spokesman commented that the service is free and "does not provide identities for unknown people in photographs." Corsight, a private Israeli company, declined to comment, although its president had recently written on LinkedIn that its technology could identify faces from "extreme angles, (even from drones,) darkness, poor quality."[50]
In April 2024,The Guardian claimed thatBrigadier GeneralYossi Sariel (a former head of intelligence for the IDF'sCentral Command) was leading Unit 8200. The identity of the unit's commander is kept secret, butThe Guardian "easily" connected an anonymous email account included with electronic copies of a book published under the pseudonym YS to his name.[3] Before 7 October, the organisation had been restructured under Sariel and other leaders with an emphasis on engineers and the closure of groups not focused on data-mining technology.[51] Sariel resigned command of Unit 8200 in September 2024.[27]
Companies founded by alumni
Former soldiers of Unit 8200 have gone on to found many high-tech companies, among them:[52][53][9][54][55]
^"IDF Record Book 2010".Bamahane (in Hebrew). No. 3052. 8 September 2010. p. 83.
^abLe Monde Diplomatique, 2010 September, "Israel’s Omniscient Ears: Israel’s Urim Base in the Negev Desert is among the most important and powerful intelligence gathering sites in the world. Yet, until now, its eavesdropping has gone entirely unmentioned".http://mondediplo.com/2010/09/04israelbase
^ab"The Unit".Forbes. 8 February 2007. Retrieved5 April 2024.Retired Brig. Gen. Hanan Gefen, a former commander of Unit 8200 and current consultant to high-tech companies, [...] retired Brig. Gen. Yair Cohen, the previous Unit commander and current vice president of Elron,
^Cordey, Sean (December 2019). Prior, Tim; Cavelty, Myriam Dunn; Wenger, Andreas (eds.)."The Israeli Unit 8200: An OSINT-based Study".CSS Risk and Resilience Reports. Zurich, Switzerland:Center for Security Studies: 8. Archived fromthe original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved5 April 2024.Yair Cohen, who served 33 years in Unit 8200, the last five (2001–05) as its commander,
^Cornish, Paul (4 November 2021).The Oxford Handbook of Cyber Security. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-252101-9.Foreign sources routinely assert that Unit 8200 contribured to Stuxnet, Flame, Duqu and other sophisticated cyber campaigns.
Israel
Israel Defense Forces
Military Intelligence Directorate
