The unit preparing for Israel's invisible war From simulated network breaches to international exercises, inside the IDF's cyber training hub. "An external attacker has managed to breach an isolated network. The attacker now has full control of the entire network. Starting with nothing more than communication access to another network, he exploited vulnerabilities, escalated privileges, and moved laterally until gaining complete control." That was the scenario greeting Calcalist at the IDF's Cyber Trainer Facility, where cyber warriors train against simulated real-world attacks. The attacker in this case was Sgt. Y., one of the facility's instructors. "The defenders are on top of the situation and have already contained the incident," she explained. "One of the things they do particularly well is operational containmentת stopping the attack, stabilizing the environment, and restoring the network to normal operation." The modest facility, consisting of a handful of offices, an auditorium, and a cyber exercise room, serves the same purpose for cyber defenders that large training grounds serve for combat soldiers. It simulates real-world cyberattacks as closely as possible, replacing armed terrorists, tanks, and missiles with hackers and sophisticated attack groups. "We conduct regular training exercises for cyber defenders across the IDF to ensure they remain prepared for cyber incidents," said the facility's commander, Capt. N. "Just as combat units train for battlefield scenarios, cyber defenders must train for digital ones. The principle is the same: hard in training, easier in combat. Our goal is to increase exposure to realistic situations so that when a real incident occurs, they are as prepared as possible." The exercises are designed by soldiers serving at the Cyber Trainer Facility, who also act as the attackers during the simulations. "We run a variety of exercises, ranging from single-day simulations to multi-day operations," said Capt. N. "Some focus exclusively on