Nadav Zafrir
Former commander of Unit 8200; co-founder of Team8 and CEO of Check Point
| Nadav Zafrir
| |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Occupation | Intelligence officer (retired); venture investor; technology executive |
| Known for | Commander of Unit 8200; co-founder of Team8; CEO of Check Point Software Technologies from December 2024 |
Nadav Zafrir is an Israeli former intelligence officer and technology executive. He commanded Unit 8200, the signals intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces, set up the IDF's Cyber Command, and retired as a brigadier general. In 2014 he co-founded the cybersecurity company-building group Team8, and in December 2024 he became chief executive of Check Point Software Technologies, succeeding founder Gil Shwed.[1][2] He has also chaired the industrial cybersecurity firm Claroty.[2]
Military and intelligence career
Ctech reported that Zafrir spent much of his childhood in Latin America, where his father was a diplomat, and returned to Israel in 1988 to enlist. He began in "elite secret combat units", was decorated with the Chief of Staff's Citation, and rose to command Unit 8200.[3] Globes wrote in 2019 that he "was an officer in the Sayeret Matkal (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit) commando, took part in Mossad operations, and then rose up the ranks in Unit 8200 until he became commander of it". A source close to Team8 told the paper that "He could have been the best ever Mossad agent".[4]
Forbes reported in 2016 that Zafrir joined Unit 8200 in 2005 and commanded it from 2009 to 2013. It said he left in 2013 after founding the IDF's "Cyber Command", and that he was "an impregnable firewall when it comes to discussing anything specific he did in 8200".[5] Globes, reporting his Check Point appointment in 2024, gave different dates, saying he commanded the unit from 2005 to 2008.[2] Check Point says he "established the Israel Defense Forces' Cyber Command and served as Commander of the elite Unit 8200, retiring as a Brigadier General".[1]
Team8
Team8 was founded in 2014 by Zafrir, Israel Grimberg, former head of Unit 8200's cyber division, and Liran Grinberg, a former 8200 officer.[3][4] Globes reported that the idea came from Zafrir and Grimberg, who began work on it less than a year after leaving the IDF. Team8 identifies problems, recruits teams to solve them, and takes about half the equity in each company it founds. Its strategic partners have included SoftBank, Walmart, Airbus, Munich Re, Microsoft, Cisco and Temasek. Former US National Security Agency director Michael Rogers joined as an adviser in 2018.[4]
The group's first exit was the sale of Sygnia, an incident-response firm staffed partly by Unit 8200 veterans, to Temasek for $250 million in 2018. It also launched Claroty.[4] Claroty's 2016 launch release named Zafrir as president. It said he had helped recruit a research team from the "top 1% of the 1%" of "a special IDF cyberunit".[6] Check Point says Zafrir and his partners built and invested in more than forty companies and that he chaired more than a dozen cybersecurity companies. He was also chair and then a director of SolarEdge Technologies.[1]
Check Point
In July 2024 Check Point Software Technologies named Zafrir as chief executive from December 2024, with Gil Shwed becoming executive chairman.[2]
See also
- Unit 8200
- Team8
- Check Point Software Technologies
- Claroty
- Israel Grimberg
- Liran Grinberg
- Cyber and tech firms founded by ex Unit 8200 or occupation forces veterans
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Check Point Software Technologies, Leadership Check Point, accessed 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Assaf Gilead, Check Point names Nadav Zafrir next CEO Globes, 24 July 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ctech, Nadav Zafrir: Decorated soldier turned cyber entrepreneur Ctech, 30 November 2020.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Yasmin Yablonko, Team8: A unique model, but will it work? Globes, 7 July 2019.
- ↑ Richard Behar, Inside Israel's secret startup machine Forbes India (from Forbes), 17 June 2016.
- ↑ Claroty, Claroty Exits Stealth with $32 Million in Funding to Protect Industrial Networks Claroty, 13 September 2016.