The National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA), located within the Prime Minister's office, was an Israeli security entity responsible for protecting the Israeli civilian cyber space from 2016 to 2018. The NCSA provided incident handling services and guidance for all civilian entities as well as all critical infrastructures in the Israeli economy, and works towards increasing the resilience of the civilian cyber space. At the end of 2017, the Israeli government decided to merge the NCSA with the Israeli National Cyber Bureau (established in 2012), the unit in the Prime Minister's Office, which served as the government's cyber policy Bureau, into one unit - the National Cyber Directorate.
Background Israel was one of the first countries to set up national Critical Infrastructure Protection CIP or CIIP. In February 2002, the Israel Government passed Resolution B/84, deciding to protect Critical Infrastructure, and assigning the Israel Security Agency ("Shin Bet") with the task. The National Information Security Authority (NISA ) took upon the task. Although this CIP model has proven successful, the country's connectivity and dependency on technology continued to increase, and calls for an improved cyber strategy grew stronger. The discovery of Stuxnet catalyzed the policy processes. In November 2010, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally nominated a special taskforce to devise recommendations for a National Cyber Strategy, also known as the "Cyber Initiative". The team, headed by Major-General (Ret.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel of Tel Aviv University worked for several months, in eight sub-committees manned by dozens of experts. The team examined all the components vital to the need of the State of Israel to cope successfully in cyberspace, including the analysis of national benefits regarding aspects of economy, academy and National security. The "Cyber Initiative" teamwork was concluded in May 2011 and summed-up in a special report dispatched to the Prime Minister. The team's main conclusion was that "cyber-attacks should be considered as a substantial potential threat to the functional continuity of the state, its institutions and its citizens", and that "a central gap has been identified in the cyber defense of the civil sector at large". At the core of its report, the team recommended that two bodies be established – namely, a "National Cyber Bureau" and an "executive body for the security of the civil sector" by its side. The team also recommended to set-up a national "cyber defence foil", comprising automated computerized systems and manned systems, together defending pre-defined computer systems. It also motioned for the establishment of a national CERT. The team indicated that the civil and security components of cyberspace are interlaced and are, to all intents and purposes, inseparable, and that there is a need for a broad national perspective and for an understanding that the preparedness of the State of Israel to the challenges of cyberspace is a national undertaking of the first order. Following that, in August 2011 the Israeli government passed a resolution to establish the Israeli National Cyber Bureau (INCB), designated to assist the prime minister, the government and its committees in forging a National Cyber Policy and fostering the application of its aspects of National Security. Specifically, the INCB was assigned to develop a national cyber security strategy. The development of that strategy generated a professional and important discourse on the national level regarding possible ways to establish an operational body responsible for the defence of the civil cyberspace. The need for it has never been in doubt; however, the manner in which this need should be satisfied has been the subject of many discussions and some poignant disputes, and was finally resolved through the government's decision to establish a civilian body in the Prime Minister's Office – the NCSA. The directorate regularly publishes assessments of cyber threats to government, critical infrastructure, and private entities. In 2026, Israel’s national cyber chief warned that a future AI-driven cyber conflict could emerge between offensive and defensive systems, noting that cyberattacks had increased by 55% in 2025 and highlighting potential threats to energy, transportation, and telecommunications infrastructure.
Government Resolutions 2443 and 2444 In February 2015, the 33rd Government of Israel approved two government resolutions concerning the Israeli cyber defense, centered by Government Resolution 2444, "Promoting National Preparedness for Cyber Defense". In this resolution, the government stipulated that the defense of the proper functioning in cyberspace is a vital, national state goal and a vital national interest of the state of Israel. It was accordingly decreed that the aim of the NCSA is to protect the entire civilian cyberspace of Israel. Its functions include: a. Managing, operating and carrying out all operational defence efforts in cyberspace on the national level, as needed in order to give a whole and continuous response to cyber-attacks. b. Operating the national CERT for the benefit of the economy as a whole, including the improvement of cyber resilience, and to assist in dealing with cyber threats and coping with cyber incidents. c. Building and enhancing the cyber resilience of the Israeli economy through preparedness, competence and regulation, including the enhancement of sectors and organizations, guidance, regulation of the cyber defence services market, licensing, standardization, exercising and general training, Incentivization, etc. d. Forging, implementation and assimilation of a national Cyber Defence Methodology. e. Performing any other task stipulated by the prime minister, according to the NCSA's aim.
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