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This could do without the clickbait title. "former Israeli spy" is obviously trying to make you think of something nefarious, even though there are no details b
by dx87 7y ago
This could do without the clickbait title. "former Israeli spy" is obviously trying to make you think of something nefarious, even though there are no details besides where they worked. I was in an intel unit when I was in the military, and there's a lot of general IT people, managers, etc. It's deliberately deceptive to label anyone who has ever worked at an intel agency as a "spy".
- closeparen 7y agoYeah the whole corporate security community is full of ex spooks. Look at the backgrounds of the Fortune 500’s CISOs.
- mikeyouse 7y agoHis LinkedIn indicates that he was a developer in the unit that created the Student Virus... Spy has a broad definition but it probably fits for a SigInt developer in the Israeli military.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200
- GuthL 7y agoThis Unit is litterally 10000 people, is the largest in the Israeli army and handles the vast majority of computer security things. So still does not say much.
- ronreiter 7y agoStuxnet was created by the NSA in a joint operation with 8200. And yes there are 50,000 ex-8200 alumni, so calling all of them spies is kind of absurd
- kuschku 7y agoCalling them spy may be wrong, but I certainly won't ever work with, or use technology made by people who worked for an intelligence agency. That's something over which I'd also terminate friendships. And many people have a similar mindset, so it's understandable to report this information, and make consumer choices based on it. That said, Israel should probably consider solutions like other countries with mandatory military service have, e.g. in Germany (until it stopped being mandatory) it was possible to avoid military service by spending the exact same time instead working in social services, e.g. hospitals, daycares, retirement homes, etc.
- NaggingGranpa 7y agoSpoiled brat living under Uncle Sam's protection feels entitled to give advice to non-effete countries whose armies have actually seen combat since the 1940s.
- fortzi 7y agoTo me the word spy and the term ex-intel paint a very different picture of the person being described. When I realized this guy was just in the 8200 unit I literally giggled at the notion that all those 18 year old nerds are all spooky spies.
- kuschku 7y agoDo you believe people would continue using a VPN if they knew several of its employees were ex-NSA? No, not at all. The same applies here, it doesn't matter if you call the people spy or not, VPNs should not have any association with intelligence services.
- pron 7y agoThing is, Akamai and Cisco employ a lot of those people. Quite many of them in security research. People who were in the NSA or Israeli intelligence are the people companies seek when they want security. Israel's military intelligence is one of the places where VPNs were first used, and the idea later became commercial VPN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_Point#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_Point#History
- pron 7y agoIsrael does allow it in some cases, but the security conditions in Israel and Germany are very different, as is the size of their population. But I have some bad news for you: you are most likely using technology made by people who've worked for intelligence agencies. For example, if you're using Intel chips, many dozens of their designers served in Israel's military intelligence. Same goes for Google, Apple and Microsoft products. It's just that a very high percentage of engineers in Israel served in military intelligence, and a lot of technology companies do R&D in Israel. But if you use Wikipedia, it's OK: its PHP engine was made by someone who served in the Israeli airforce, not military intelligence. Although, your packets are probably routed through Cisco routers, so maybe not so OK. Oh, Akamai servers, too. Also, there could be an issue with your Qualcomm Wifi chip.