AI & the Fifth Domain of Warfare: A Talk with Eyal Balicer, Cybersecurity Innovator & Thought Leader

AI & the Fifth Domain of Warfare: A Talk with Eyal Balicer, Cybersecurity Innovator & Thought Leader

By Michael Matias, CEO of Clarity and Forbes 30 Under 30 alumCybersecurity has entered a new domain—literally. As Eyal Balicer put it in our recent conversation: “Cyberspace is now the fifth domain of warfare.” But in this domain, the battleground isn’t just code. It’s control.Eyal brings a rare vantage point to the AI-cyber nexus—he’s held senior cybersecurity roles in the Israeli government, Fortune 100 companies like Citi, and top-tier venture capital. Our discussion centered on a growing truth: with the rise of agentic systems—AI entities that can act, decide, and evolve—the mission of cybersecurity is changing.“We are shifting from a world where intelligence was a scarce resource to one where that is not necessarily the case; true agency is becoming the new elusive driver of prosperity and growth,” Eyal explained. “The systems we are now securing are not just automated—they are autonomous, highly competent, and opaque. Traditional defenses cannot keep up.”It’s a shift I’ve seen firsthand at Clarity, where we build proactive defenses against deepfakes and AI-generated phishing. Just like Shahar Peled told me about agentic AI revolutionizing offensive testing, Eyal sees these agents redefining global threat models. The challenge isn’t identifying known threats—it’s safeguarding systems that learn, adapt, and act independently.And that requires a new security architecture.“An AI agent can have fluid permissions, context-based roles, and evolving identity,” he told me. “Conventional IAM just does not cut it anymore.” In that sense, Balicer echoes voices like Ron Nissim and Alon Jackson, who both called for a redefinition of identity management in the AI age.But Eyal's view goes broader: geopolitical. He sees cybersecurity not just as a business enabler, but as a pillar of national resilience. From financial systems to defense infrastructure, the stakes have never been higher. “The future will require autonomous cybersecurity—not just automated, pre-defined playbooks, but real-time, adaptive agents who reason and defend at the edge, with varying degrees of human intervention.”We discussed how the regulatory map only adds to the complexity. “The fragmentation across jurisdictions makes cross-border cybersecurity brittle,” Eyal warned. His point was clear: the only viable strategy is proactive, agentic, adaptable security. Not static controls. Not red-alert dashboards.The recent acquisition of Wiz by Google, he said, is just the beginning. “This will eventually lead to an entrepreneurial Cambrian explosion in cybersecurity,” Eyal predicted. And much like Dorit Dor told me, the organizations that survive will be those that move fast—and let AI lead the charge.As we closed, his advice was blunt: “Ignoring this revolution is not an option. AI evolves daily. Your security safeguards and controls should not lag behind.”My takeaway? Eyal isn’t just talking about new tools—he’s laying out a new doctrine.Agentic AI isn’t coming. It’s here. And if we don’t secure it now, we risk losing control of the systems that already make decisions for us.The future of cyber isn’t just proactive. It’s autonomous. And it’s already reshaping the balance of power.

Episoder(1165)

Ep996: Ehud Hausman | Partner, Head of Hi-Tech Practice Patent Attorney, Advocate, Reinhold Cohn & Partners

Ep996: Ehud Hausman | Partner, Head of Hi-Tech Practice Patent Attorney, Advocate, Reinhold Cohn & Partners

Ehud (Udi) Hausman is a patent attorney who manages the Hi-Tech department of the Reinhold Cohn Group, the largest, earliest established Intellectual Property firm in Israel. Over the years he has offered his professional expertise in the protection of inventions and building IP strategy, advising both entrepreneurs and companies in the fields of Computer Science, Physics and Electronics, including Internet, cellular technology, databases, multi-media, Big Data, Machine Learning and other software, hardware, and integrated systems and processes.

14 Jan 202321min

Ep995: Bobby Pinero | CEO and co-founder, Equals

Ep995: Bobby Pinero | CEO and co-founder, Equals

Bobby is the CEO of Equals, a next generation spreadsheet with live connections to any database, versioning, and collaboration. He previously ran Finance and Analytics at Intercom.

13 Jan 202322min

Ep994: Joe Natoli | Founder, LOOFT Inc.

Ep994: Joe Natoli | Founder, LOOFT Inc.

Joe Natoli has had many titles throughout his career: actor, game designer, educator, full-stack developer and entrepreneur. His passion for delighting people through technology led him to found LOOFT, the world’s first world’s first cooling and heating comfort service company while working at a venture builder in Leipzig, Germany. Joe brings knowledge of international startups, Silicon Valley and more, having worked with billionaire investor Tim Draper, Draper University, teaching entrepreneurship around the world from Africa to Asia. Afterwards, Joe settled in Europe to put his knowledge to work by forming ventures in the underserved market of Eastern Germany. Joe could be considered the ultimate startup guy, having built, founded or failed over a dozen startup businesses.

12 Jan 202321min

Ep993: Wilko Visser | Founder and CEO, ValueBlue

Ep993: Wilko Visser | Founder and CEO, ValueBlue

Wilko Visser is the CEO at ValueBlue, a company behind the SaaS platform BlueDolphin: an Enterprise Architecture tool for Agile Business Transformation. Prior to starting the company in 2011, Wilko spent time as a senior executive across both self-started organizations and private corporations with thousands of employees. A strong believer in the promises of digital transformation, Wilko is excited about the innovation BlueDolphin is enabling for organizations across the globe.

11 Jan 202320min

Ep992: Bracha Halaf | Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Gravity Climate-Fund & Venture Studio

Ep992: Bracha Halaf | Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Gravity Climate-Fund & Venture Studio

Dr Bracha Halaf is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Gravity Climate-Fund & Venture Studio. An investor with deep scientific, engineering, and regulatory background. Bracha was the Chief Scientist of Israel’s Ministry of Energy and the public representative at Israel’s Public Utility Authority. Bracha also served in the recent years as a Principal at Qure Ventures, a digital Health VC. Bracha Holds Ph.D in Biophysics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and M.Sc. & B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University.

10 Jan 202323min

Ep991: Tyler Bryden | Co-Founder, Speak Ai

Ep991: Tyler Bryden | Co-Founder, Speak Ai

Tyler Bryden is an experienced business owner, marketer, and product leader passionate about improving human-computer interaction to unlock personal and professional growth. He currently leads Speak Ai, a technology company supported by Techstars that uses speech-to-text and natural language processing to automatically extract valuable insights from audio, video, and text. 7,000+ researchers, marketers, and data professionals use Speak Ai's intuitive platform to capture and analyze language data for better decision-making.

9 Jan 202334min

Ep990: Roee Shibolet | Head of Israel R&D Center, Intuitive Israel

Ep990: Roee Shibolet | Head of Israel R&D Center, Intuitive Israel

Roee is Head of the Israel R&D center for intuitive Surgical, a US Robotic Surgery company that revolutionised minimal invasive surgery with the DaVinci robot. Roee has more than 20 years of technology experience in the medical domain. Roee has led software, data and algorithm groups in areas including automatic inspection, artificial inteligence and digital solutions. Introducing products from POC to FDA approval. His current group is part of Intuitive's digital organization and is devlopping the digital platform for hosting applications that enhance the healthcare team's ability to improve and provide the best care for patients. Roee holds a Bsc in Computer Science and a MBA.

8 Jan 202321min

Ep989: Ziv Elul | CEO, Periapt

Ep989: Ziv Elul | CEO, Periapt

Ziv Elul hes a Entrepreneur, CEO and founder. The digital advertising company 'Ineractive' which he founded together with Ofer Yehudai was sold in the first round for 86 million dollars to the German Faber company. Elol served as CEO for 12 years of the company. In 2021, Fyber was sold in a deal worth 650 million dollars and in the same year Elul established a new startup called Periapt. He is an avid investor and board member of several start-up companies. Lt. Col. in res. Holds a master's degree in business administration with honors from the Hebrew University and is one of its board of trustees.

7 Jan 202320min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
finansredaksjonen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
pengepodden-2
pengesnakk
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
utbytte
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
rss-sunn-okonomi
aksjepodden
okonomiamatorene
rss-markedspuls-2
lederpodden
rss-andelige-tanker-med-camillo
rss-investering-gjort-enkelt