Yigal Unna
Not to be confused with Black Cube, the Israeli private intelligence firm, or with BlackCore itself. No source accuses Unna of involvement in BlackCore's campaigns. Former director-general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate
| Yigal Unna
| |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Occupation | Former intelligence officer and civil servant |
| Known for | Director-general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate |
Yigal Unna is a former director-general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) and a former Unit 8200 and Shin Bet officer. France's Viginum describes him as a "central figure" in the ecosystem around BlackCore, through his association with the Israeli company Galacticos. Unna says he never played any role at the company and calls it "a kind of improvisation".
Career
The website of Unna's start-up incubator, Cygun Ltd, describes his career as beginning "in Unit 8200, Israel’s elite signal-intelligence corps", followed by "23 years in the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), where he rose to head the Cyber & Signal Intelligence Division", before he became Director General of the National Cyber Directorate.[1] France 3 gives his term at the directorate as 2018 to 2022.[2] Cygun Ltd (סיגאון בע"מ) is a registered Israeli private company based in Givatayim.[3]
Galacticos
Viginum's June 2026 report on the BlackCore campaign calls Unna a "central figure" in the surrounding ecosystem, citing his former roles at the INCD and in Unit 8200 and the Shin Bet. It reports that photos from a September 2025 event at the Tel Aviv law firm that shares an address with Galacticos show Unna, apparently as a representative of Galacticos AI, and that Cygun lists Galacticos AI among the start-ups it supports.[4] The law firm, Afik & Co., lists "Mr. Yigal Unna of Galacticos.AI" among the guests at its event of 8 September 2025.[5]
Denial
Unna told Haaretz and Libération that he never played any role at Galacticos, which he had been told was in the business of social media monitoring. He said Doron Afik approached him "two years ago" (about 2024) about an "OSINT [open-source intelligence] and social network startup focused on protecting commercial brands", and used him to help find clients. "I didn't see any real company. There's no CEO and no full-time VP of marketing. I never met any employees – it was a kind of improvisation," Unna said. He said he received no payment and had had no contact with the firm in 2026.[6] The Canary reports that he "denied any link to the operation".[7]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Cygun, About Yigal Unna, Cygun Ltd (company website).
- ↑ Dominique Durand, Ingérence lors des municipales contre des candidats LFI : de BlackCore à Tel-Aviv, ce que les enquêtes de Libération et Haaretz révèlent, France 3 Occitanie, 15 May 2026.
- ↑ OpenCorporates, סיגאון בע"מ (CYGUN), company no. 516559317 (Israeli Registrar of Companies data).
- ↑ VIGINUM (SGDSN), Rapport technique – Rokh Solis (Rokh Solis: technical report), Secrétariat général de la défense et de la sécurité nationale, 11 June 2026 (archived copy).
- ↑ Afik & Co., Article about a diplomacy and business event of the Ibero-American Department at Afik & Co. 08.09.2025, afiklaw.com, 21 September 2025.
- ↑ Omer Benjakob, Revealed: An Anti-left Influence Operation in France Leads to Tel Aviv, Haaretz, 18 May 2026.
- ↑ Joe Glenton, BlackCore: Inside an Israeli foreign influence operation, The Canary, 19 May 2026.