Google To Acquire Israeli Tech Firm Including Former Unit 8200 Members
California, US: Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced that it is planning to acquire the Israeli cloud security startup ‘Wiz’ in a $32 billion deal. It will mark one of the largest-ever influxes of former Israeli intelligence officers into a US tech company. Notably, the Israeli tech company was founded by four former members of Unit 8200, Israel Defence Force (IDF) intelligence corps unit.
Reportedly, Wiz will keep its brand and operate independently from Google after the acquisition. An extra retention bonus will be offered to employees, potentially totalling $1 billion, along with a breakup fee that Google would owe to Wiz if antitrust regulators block the deal.
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“Google LLC today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Wiz, Inc., a leading cloud security platform headquartered in New York, for $32 billion, subject to closing adjustments, in an all-cash transaction,” said Google.
While most of Wiz’s 1,995 employees are based in North America, most of its engineering staff is based in Tel Aviv, a major hub for cybersecurity talent primarily linked to Unit 8200 alumni.
As per a 2018 report by Haaretz, 80 percent of the 2,300 people who founded Israel’s 700 cybersecurity companies at the time had come through Israeli army intelligence. Two years before, Forbes estimated that over 1,000 companies were founded by Unit 8200 alumni.
“There are at least five tech companies started by Unit 8200 alumni publicly traded in the US, together worth around $160 billion. Private companies started by ex-8200 soldiers are worth billions more,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
“While Unit 8200 alumni once talked about their service in hushed tones, they now tout it in press releases to attract clients and investment money for their startups,” read the report.
Unit 8200 is an integral part of the Israeli intelligence apparatus. It conducts signal intelligence (SIGINT) and cyber operations, emphasising advanced technology, cybersecurity, and intelligence gathering.
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Last month, The Guardian reported that Unit 8200 has used a vast collection of intercepted Palestinian communications to build a powerful artificial intelligence tool similar to ChatGPT that it hopes will transform its spying capabilities. In its investigation with Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, it has been found that Unit 8200 trained the AI model to understand spoken Arabic using large volumes of telephone conversations and text messages obtained through its extensive surveillance of the occupied territories of Palestine. It is not clarified if the system has yet been deployed.
“It’s not just about preventing shooting attacks; I can track human rights activists and monitor Palestinian construction in Area C (of the West Bank). I have more tools to know what every person in the West Bank is doing,” sources told The Guardian.
It also played a crucial role in the tragic pager blast in Lebanon, which killed many and injured more than 2000, most of whom were civilians. The unit was involved in embedding explosives inside the pagers ordered by Hezbollah, a militant group in Lebanon, with the operation reportedly taking over a year to plan.
