Unit 8200 Unit 8200 ( , " Yehida Shmoneh - Matayim " ) is an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signal intelligence ( SIGINT ) and code decryption . It also appears in military publications as the Central Collection Unit of the Intelligence Corps and is sometimes referred to as Israeli SIGINT National Unit ( ISNU ) . History . 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 from Jaffa to its current base at the Glilot junction . Structure . Unit 8200 is the largest unit in the Israel Defense Forces , comprising several thousand soldiers . It is comparable in its function to the United States ' National Security Agency and is a Ministry of Defense body just as the NSA is part of the United States Department of Defense . It is led by a Brigadier - General whose identity remains classified . Subordinate to Unit 8200 is Unit Hatzav , { Hebrew name for Drimia ( ) } , responsible for collecting OSINT intelligence . The unit monitors and collects military intelligence - related information from television , radio , newspapers , and the internet . The translation of various items accounts for part of what is termed " basic intelligence , " which is collected by the units . According to media reports , the unit provides over half of the overall intelligence information for the Israeli Intelligence Community . The IDF ' s most important signal intelligence - gathering installation is the Urim SIGINT Base , a part of Unit 8200 . Urim is located in the Negev desert approximately 30 km from Beersheba . In March 2004 , the Commission to investigate the intelligence network following the War in Iraq recommended turning the unit into a civilian National SIGINT Agency , as is in other Western countries , but this proposal was not implemented . Alleged activities . In 2010 , the French newspaper " Le Monde " wrote that Unit 8200 operates a massive spying network . At the center is a large SIGINT base in the Negev , one of the largest listening bases in the world , capable of monitoring phone calls , emails , and other communications , throughout the Middle East , Europe , Asia , and Africa , 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 the Palestinian territories , and has Gulfstream jets equipped with electronic surveillance equipment . Ronen Bergman revealed in a 2009 book that a Hezbollah bomb , disguised as a cell phone , was picked up by agents , and taken for investigation to Unit 8200 ' s headquarters in February 1999 . Inside the laboratory the cell phone exploded . Two officers were injured . 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 during Operation Orchard . Unit 8200 was speculated by many media reports to be responsible for the creation of Stuxnet computer worm that in 2010 infected industrial computers , including Iranian nuclear facilities . Alumni . Alumni of 8200 have gone on to found leading Israeli IT companies , among them Check Point , ICQ , NICE , AudioCodes , Gilat , and EZchip .