The IDF will have its own secure cellphone network in the next five years, the
head of a teleprocessing unit announced on Sunday.
Brig.-Gen. Ayala
Hakim, commander of the Teleprocessing and IT Unit in the IDF’s Teleprocessing
Branch, said the new network would be called Golden Ring, and will also feature
a military broadband and IP network.
The IDF’s current network, called
Mountain Rose, is coming to the end of its service, and must be replaced, Hakim
added.
Addressing the IDF’s scheduled relocation to the Negev region of
southern Israel, Hakim said underground servers were now being built ahead of
the construction of the new Teleprocessing Branch base.
“The branch must
be both technological and operational, and connect between the two worlds,” she
said at a teleprocessing conference.
One of the biggest challenges facing
the IDF is securing its communications and computer systems – a task that will
keep the Teleprocessing Branch busy for the next decade, Hakim said. To that
end, the IDF has set up headquarters dedicated to securing strategic
connectivity.
In January, the IDF’s Information Security Branch
identified an increase in attempts by foreign hostile intelligence entities to
listen on army communications.
The increased threat includes a major
attempt to eavesdrop on cellphones used by the IDF, as well as hacking attacks
directed at army computer networks.
Sources from the Information Security
Branch did not name who specifically was behind the efforts, but said they
expected the stepped-up threat to continue.
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