About the Cyber Unit

The Cyber Unit at the Office of the State Attorney is a new national unit which was established in 2015, in view of the need recognized by the State Attorney to coordinate efforts in dealing with crime and terrorism in cyberspace.

In recent years cybercrime has been on a sharp upward trend from the quantitative and qualitative aspect. This crime is complex and has unique characteristics that distinguish it from familiar crime in the physical space. Cybercrime raises unique legal questions and requires special proficiency in handling it. In view of the structure of the internet which makes it difficult to collect digital evidence and locate the perpetrators of the offenses and in view of the increasing dependency on cyberspace, much more crimes are committed inside cyberspace or via it.

 
Cybercrime is varied and includes the following types of offenses:

• Offenses against computer and against information - infiltration into computer material, circulating viruses, Trojan horses and worms, interference with computer activity (such as by way of DDoS attacks), stealing computerized information (personal information, information of economic value, information of national security importance) and more. The motives for committing these offenses may be varied: terrorism, business espionage or personal motives.
• Classic offenses copied in full into the computerized space - these are varied offenses (fraud, forgery, gambling, pornographic pedophilic publications, sexual harassment, etc.) that have been copied form the physical space to the computerized space, while exploiting the features of the space so as to allow them to be committed more easily and with less fear of being caught.
• Expression offenses in the computerized space - this is a variety of forbidden publications – incitement to racism and violence, a breach of gag orders, defamation, harm to privacy and also phenomena such as cyberbullying and shaming that are presently committed online. 

The Cyber Unit engages in three major areas: 

• The competent headquarters party at the Office of the State Attorney in the field of cyber and SIGINT (electronic intelligence), including matters of computer offenses, digital evidence, wiretapping and communications data. The Unit professionally guides and accompanies the attorneys and enforcement agencies in these areas in all matters pertaining to the work of the Office of the State Attorney.
• Conducting criminal files in the field of computer and information offenses that are investigated by the Israel Police's National Cyber Crime Unit (Lahav 433) and by the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority at the Ministry of Justice.
• Acting in the fields of alternative enforcement for the prevention and thwarting of damages of forbidden acts in cyberspace, including acts for removing offensive content, filtering search results, restraining internet users committing forbidden acts and protective and preventative measures in cyberspace as legal tools.

Within the framework of its work, the Cyber Unit at the Office of the State Attorney routinely works with the following parties: the Israel Police, security and defense bodies, the National Cyber Bureau at the Prime Minister's Office, the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority at the Ministry of Justice, the Office of Legal Counsel and Legislative Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, the Knesset committees, various internet service providers, colleagues and parallel parties worldwide, international organizations dealing with the field of cyber and NGOs operating in the fields of protection against cyberspace harm.

Structure

The Unit, which is still in its growing stages, presently includes about 25 employees: the Unit director, ten attorneys, one administrative employee, three interns, seven students and three national service girls.