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Forbes Israel revealed the inspiring women for 2023 in a special event held last week. The event featured the participation of entrepreneurs, businesswomen, leaders, and trailblazers from various fields.
Over 200 entrepreneurial women from various fields attended the event, and selectees from the list spoke on stage, including Shirli Rimon Bracha, Director of Education Administration in Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality; Michal Braverman Blumenstyk, CEO of Microsoft Israel Research and Development; Avia Magen, CEO of Fattal Hotels Israel, and Attorney Michal Rosenboum, the Director of the Government Companies Authority.
Alongside influential and inspiring women, other prominent figures, such as Doron Amir, CEO of CyTaka, and Attorney Hili Rashkovan, partner and head of the Israel Technology Transactions Group at Pearl Cohen’s office.
During the event held on the 53rd floor of the Sarona Towers in Pearl Cohen’s offices, Amir noted that despite the significant progress made in recent years in promoting gender equality in various domains, the path to achieving equality of opportunities remains long and challenging and emphasized the importance of integrating women into elite units, such as the IDF’s Cyber Intelligence Unit, as a positive development. “This is an additional contribution from which more influential women leaders will emerge in senior positions, making our unique land even more special, Amir said: “From the time of our founders, in both the ‘Haganah’ and the ‘Irgun’, strong women led and fought with courage long before fighter pilots and the elite cyber warriors we know today.”
“However, do not rest on laurels just because in the current reality, women can finally join the IDF’s Cyber Intelligence Unit or fly fighter jets,” he cautioned. “The path to equality of opportunities is still long and requires substantial effort.”
Cybersecurity for anyone everywhere
Doron Amir (47), an Israeli technology entrepreneur in software, cybersecurity, and information security, is the founder and CEO of the cyber Unicorn CyTaka, the world’s leading cybersecurity championship for programmers. Over the years, Amir has promoted global initiatives to build bridges between different nations, with a focus on encouraging education and employment in the tech industry and advancing opportunities and gender equality.
“One of the achievements in the context of women’s empowerment can be seen in our World Cyber Championship, which is a multidimensional space,” Amir described at the event. “When we organize a cyber championship, we have both male and female champions from every nation and sector. This is precisely what we need to see more in an advanced society – more competitive sports and competitive activities that involve more people, including women. There is no reason why the younger generation shouldn’t see competition and, of course, victory without regard to gender or preconceived notions. This is what we want for the next generation and our expectation for this generation.”
“To further promote and succeed in this, we need more results and fewer explanations about the participation rate of women compared to men,” Amir continued. “Take, for example, the racing driver Danica Patrick, who made history as the first woman to stand on the prestigious podium as a winner in one of the adrenaline-pumping motorsports traditionally considered ‘masculine’ and dangerous in the world. This is exactly how we narrow down gender-based opinions. It’s not new that women can excel in fields and areas considered dangerous or masculine; we just need to promote more gender-diverse activities and not impose gender-based restrictions.”
For this reason, Amir decided to prioritize diversity and gender equality in his organization and promote it primarily from within. “Even in CyTaka, we have an interest in gender balance, but I must admit that it happens quite naturally. For example, we have a cybersecurity challenge development unit that is the flagship of our activities. In the unit, which is managed discreetly and with high discipline as if it were the IDF’s Cyber Intelligence Unit, gender equality is maintained naturally. It’s a natural outcome that occurs without artificial interference—just based on skills. However, in cybersecurity competitions, the majority of participants are indeed male, but there has been significant improvement compared to the previous situation that characterized gender diversity in these competitions just two years ago.”
“CyTaka doesn’t only run the World Cyber Championship; it’s essentially a cybersecurity unicorn company that provides cybersecurity training programs to countries, including the development of a skilled and professional cybersecurity system as part of an agenda and vision for the establishment of a global and joint defensive cybersecurity force in the world,” Amir emphasized. “We don’t produce offensive cyber and we are not involved in military cyber. All of our efforts revolve around civilian cybersecurity regulation and a focus on training and education in the field to produce more cybersecurity experts who will enable citizens to feel more secure. This need has become even more critical over the past year due to the integration of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity, allowing for the development of more sophisticated defense systems but also presenting a significant challenge to offensive cybersecurity. Offensive cybersecurity is still lurking despite the improved and advanced modernization bringing with it security vulnerabilities in almost every system, including those that incorporate artificial intelligence.”
Amir concluded his remarks at the special event optimistically, stating, “Another positive aspect of women’s empowerment can be seen in our cybersecurity training programs, which are accessible to both men and women. According to field results, we can see that gender balance is preserved both there and in the Middle Eastern countries. More and more women can be seen employed in cybersecurity and technology fields. So, without a doubt, cybersecurity is multidimensional in nature.”
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