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)

Ep667: Adam de la Zerda | CEO, Visby Medical

Ep667: Adam de la Zerda | CEO, Visby Medical

Adam is CEO of Visby Medical (formerly Click Diagnostics), which he founded in 2012 to develop easy-use diagnostic tests. In March 2020, the company pivoted from work on a sexual health test to tackle the coronavirus, and in July received FDA emergency authorization approval for its portable COVID-19 test. He is also an associate professor in the Departments of Structural Biology and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University School of Medicine, with research interests spanning a broad field of molecular imaging. His lab is developing new optical imaging tools with applications to cancer and ophthalmic diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration.

7 Des 202122min

Ep666: Yotam Manor | R&D Manager, Versatile

Ep666: Yotam Manor | R&D Manager, Versatile

Yotam Manor, 33 years old, lives in Tel Aviv with his wife Hili and their 6 months old baby boy Carmel. He is an 8200 Alumni and a Hebrew University Graduate in Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE), and is self-trained as a Software Engineer. An experienced Tech Leader combining expertise in software, data, product & people, Yotam was until recently the Head of Engineering at Trellis.ai, and not too long ago joined Versatile as an R&D Manager. He volunteers for almost a decade in the Civic-tech NGO "The Public Knowledge Workshop" (Hasadna), as an Open Source Project Leader and Board Chairman, among other roles.

6 Des 202121min

Ep665: Dror Berman | Managing Partner, Innovation Endeavors

Ep665: Dror Berman | Managing Partner, Innovation Endeavors

Dror is a Founding Partner at Innovation Endeavors, which he cofounded with Eric Schmidt. He invests in early-stage startups that are driving exponential rates of change in their industries, leading to a Super Evolution. Dror has invested in over 100 different companies from Seed through Series B. He led the firm’s investments in Uber, SoFi, Planet, Zymergen, Freenome, Blue River Technologies, and others. Before becoming an investor, he was a team leader of R&D at NICE Systems (Nasdaq: NICE). Dror earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Computer Science from Ben-Gurion University. He is an ML7 Associate at Creative Destruction Lab and a member of the Steering Committee of Israel Collaboration Network.

4 Des 202130min

Ep664: Dotan Nahum | CEO & Co-founder, Spectral

Ep664: Dotan Nahum | CEO & Co-founder, Spectral

Dotan is an experienced multidisciplinary leader in tech, 4x published author, and an avid open source contributor. He is the CEO & Founder at Spectral, a devsecops startups, and previously was CTO at HiredScore, Klarna TLV, and Como (Conduit). With a solid background in hacking, reverse engineering, and software engineering, Dotan has spent years bridging the gap between developers, security, and productivity, from a developer's point of view.

3 Des 202122min

Ep663: Minal Bopaiah | Founder and Principal Consultant, Brevity & Wit

Ep663: Minal Bopaiah | Founder and Principal Consultant, Brevity & Wit

Minal Bopaiah is the author of Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives. She is the founder of Brevity & Wit, a strategy + design firm that combines human-centered design, behavior change science and the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility to help organizations transform themselves and the world. Bopaiah has written for the Stanford Social Innovation Review and The Hill and has been a featured guest on numerous podcasts and shows, including the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU. She has also been a keynote speaker for many conferences, inspiring thousands with her credible, authentic, and engaging talks. For more information, please visit https://theequitybook.com

3 Des 202118min

Ep662: Orly Glick | Partner, Vintage Investment Partners

Ep662: Orly Glick | Partner, Vintage Investment Partners

Orly joined Vintage in 2016. Before joining Vintage, she worked for McKinsey & Co. in Belgium, France and Israel in the Fast Growth Tech division. Prior to McKinsey, Orly lived for 10 years in California, USA where she worked for Merrill Lynch in wealth management and private banking. Orly started her career as a mechanics and electronics engineer for Indigo, an Israeli startup in the printing industry that was later acquired by HP. Orly has also managed and advised technology startups.

1 Des 202121min

Ep661: Chanan Schneider | CEO, Millennium Food-Tech

Ep661: Chanan Schneider | CEO, Millennium Food-Tech

Entrepreneur, CEO and experienced investor in startup companies. CEO and co-founder of Millennnium Food-Tech, a traded (TASE) venture capital fund.  Before establishing Millennium he initiated, established and managed the Food-Tech incubator in Kiryat Shmona, Israel. Chanan was the entrepreneur of IndaMed, and managed start-up companies such as Beta-o2, Nitiloop and others, from the initiation to market penetration. As CEO of these companies, he raised significant amounts from VC funds and strategic partners in Israel and  abroad. In addition, Chanan was a managing partner at the VC fund, Agate.

1 Des 202122min

Ep660: Guy Horowitz | Partner, Growth Equity, DTCP

Ep660: Guy Horowitz | Partner, Growth Equity, DTCP

Guy is a Partner at DTCP in the Growth Equity team in Silicon Valley. Guy led DTCP's investments in Replay Technologies (acquired by Intel), FireGlass (acquired by Symantec), and Dynamic Yield (acquired by McDonald’s). He also led DTCP’s investments in SafeBreach, Morphisec, AppsFlyer, and PerimeterX and represents it as board member/observer.

1 Des 202121min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
finansredaksjonen
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
utbytte
pengesnakk
pengepodden-2
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
rss-sunn-okonomi
lederpodden
okonomiamatorene
rss-rettssikkerhet-bak-fasaden-pa-rettsstaten-norge
rss-markedspuls-2
rss-fa-makro
boligbobla
rss-andelige-tanker-med-camillo