# Gabi Siboni

Gabriel "Gabi" Siboni is a colonel (Aluf Mishne) in the Israel Defense Forces Reserve service, and a senior research fellow and the director of the Military and Strategic Affairs and Cyber Security programs at the Institute for National Security Studies. Additionally, he serves as editor of the tri-yearly published, Military and Strategic Affairs academic journal at INSS. Siboni is a senior expert on national security, military strategy and operations, military technology, cyber warfare, and force buildup. Siboni is an Associate Professor, working specifically in the management of Cyber Security and a part-time lecturer at the Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid

## Early life and education

Siboni grew up in Safed, Israel. After enlisting to the IDF Siboni was assigned to the Golani Brigade, and served as a soldier and as an infantry officer. He served in the Litani Operation as a platoon leader, First Lebanon War as a company commander and commanded the brigade’s reconnaissance unit (Sayeret Golani), the brigade's reconnaissance unit in counter-guerrilla operations in South Lebanon. Within the scope of his Reserve service he served as chief of staff of the Golani Brigade. Siboni served as the chief of staff of a division during the Second Lebanon War and he presently serves as a senior planner for the IDF.
Siboni is a national security specialist and the director of the Military and Strategic Affairs Program as well as of the Cyber Security Program at the Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Siboni is also the editor of the Military and Strategic Affairs Journal (to be named Cyber, Intelligence and Security Journal as of September 2016). He serves as a senior consultant to the IDF and other Israeli security organizations.
In addition, Siboni is the deputy and chief methodologist of the IDF's Research Center for Force Deployment and Buildup. In this scope he develops strategic & operational warfare concepts for various domains, including: integrated combat in complex and densely populated areas, cyber defense and cyber warfare, cognitive and influence warfare and more. He also develops methodologies for computerized simulation for various needs, including for military operations.
Siboni holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in engineering from Tel Aviv University and a doctorate in geographic information systems (GIS) from Ben-Gurion University.

## Cybersecurity

Siboni is a consultant in a wide range of fields, including: Cybersecurity (including ICS and SCADA Security), Information Technology, ICT Risk Management, and Strategic Planning. He has extensive proven experience in decision support systems (DSS) related to cyber security investment, and security & safety control systems.
His consulting firm, G. Bina, provides security and cyber-security advisory services across the top tier of the Israel private sector, including its infrastructure and defense firms, as well as most sensitive government, military and intelligence agencies. It also works in India supporting one of its critical financial markets infrastructure institutions and other global institution.
In his book Guidelines for a National Cyber Strategy, (co-authored with Ofer Assaf), Siboni outlines five points for which decisions are critical for determining a national strategy. Starting with the state's responsibility to protect the private sector in relation to cyberspace security and privacy issues. The second point relates to the state responsibility, to enforce the use of technologies and practices in cyberspace defense in the civilian sector, which in many cases is part of its critical infrastructures. The third point is the extent to which the state is entitled to store information about the civilian sector's activities in cyberspace in order to defend it. The fourth point concerns the state's responsibility to build cyberspace capabilities and use them in a manner that will attain the state's interests. And, finally, the fifth point is the state's ability to secure the infrastructure that will allow the realization of a cyber strategy over time.
In October 2018, Siboni published a book titled: Regulation in Cyber Space (co-authored with Ido Sivan)A comprehensive study on the regulation of the cyber space. The book reviews various regulation models in key western countries, evaluated regulatory strategies from parallel domains and builds a multi-layered regulatory model for cyber space. While the model addresses Israeli cyberspace, it provides applicable strategies for other countries as well. The suggested framework uses several regulatory tools and is based on self-regulation by government authorities as well as mandatory regulation for the private sector.
Siboni's professional standing in the security community is reflected in his being responsible for the organization of DCOI – the INSS USA – Israel Cyber Security Summit for the past three years. DCOI 2016, held in Washington DC in May, was a concerted effort of the state of Israel and INSS that aimed at enhancing collaboration between the two countries in cybersecurity. The summit was supported by Israeli state agencies and major private companies from across the U.S. Keynote speakers at this year's event included: Admiral Michael S. Rogers – director, NSA; Alejandro Mayorkas – deputy secretary, DHS; General David Petraeus – former director, CIA; Richard A. Clarke – former White House national coordinator for security & Shawn Henry – former assistant director of the FBI Cyber Division.
In 2016 within the scope of his consulting firm, G. Bina, Gabi has developed DSS, an analytical framework for cybersecurity assessment. This is a unique approach combines intelligence threats with organizations cyber controls maturity. The analysis process consists of three phases: First: Identify and Map the organization's cyberspace threats, and assess the organization's cybersecurity maturity level; Second: Analyze the organization's cybersecurity maturity correlated against the threats; and finally Generate a prioritized cybersecurity action and investment.

## Music career

Siboni is a guitar player. His first band was named GSM (Gabi, Shlomi, Michael) and was established during his high school years in Safed. In 2002 he established the band "Koach Meshikha" (Gravity) in which he played lead guitar together with his brother Prof. Daniel Sivan as a singer and rhythm guitar and his close friend Brigadier General Giora Segal on bass guitar. In 2009 and following his brother retirement, the band changed its name to "Jukebox" specializing in 1960s–1970s rock'n roll music. The band performs at clubs and concerts across the country.