Julia Kogan Ehrlich, a cybersecurity executive and former officer in the Israel Defense Forces’ elite Unit 8200, warned that cyber warfare has become a central front in modern conflict, persisting even during declared physical ceasefires. She emphasized that digital infrastructure remains under constant threat despite pauses in kinetic hostilities.

"The ceasefire is only for communication. There is no ceasefire in cybersecurity," Kogan Ehrlich said. She described how modern conflict has shifted from traditional battlefields to digital domains, stating, "The world just twisted from the kinetic and moved to a different vector of war." According to her, attacks now target critical systems rather than physical assets, with potentially severe consequences for civilian life.

"The fire is maybe in a byte and not in a missile. Our physical world may not be jeopardized, but our infrastructure is constantly under attack," she added. Kogan Ehrlich noted that 98% of these cyberattacks go unnoticed by the public, highlighting the stealthy nature of digital warfare. She cited examples of vulnerable sectors, including healthcare, hospitals, clinics, and national databases, saying, "Critical infrastructure, healthcare organizations, hospitals, even clinics. Every aspect. You can take it to the national database."

Kogan Ehrlich, who served nearly nine years in Unit 8200 and was released with the rank of major, stressed that Israel relies on a multi-layered defense strategy. "There is no holistic solution. Israel is defended in multiple layers, in multiple pillars," she said. This approach follows past incidents such as the April 2020 breach in which Iranian hackers infiltrated part of Israel’s water supply defenses and were stopped only at a late stage. Data from the Israel National Cyber Directorate shows Iranian cyberattacks on Israel roughly tripled during the war, reaching approximately 4,800 significant incidents.

She also warned about the growing role of artificial intelligence in cyber operations. "AI now completes tasks. Complex tasks. It analyzes information for your benefit. And everything you can do as a benefit can be used as a malicious tool," she said. Kogan Ehrlich added that the battlefield is evolving: "The battlefield is not people against people anymore. Sometimes it's a machine against humans." She noted that voice-cloning technology, which can replicate a person’s speech from just two minutes of audio, increases the risk of social engineering attacks, particularly against vulnerable populations like elderly Russian-speaking Israelis, who she said represent eight out of ten victims in some campaigns.

Why It Matters

Kogan Ehrlich’s warnings underscore the persistent and evolving threat to civilian infrastructure in an era where digital warfare operates independently of physical conflict. Her insights, informed by nearly a decade in one of the world’s most advanced signals intelligence units, highlight the need for adaptive, multi-tiered defenses and public awareness as AI and automation expand the scope of cyber threats.