Israeli spy chief deanonymization
Introduction
As you already know, one of the main objectives of intelligence agencies around the world is to keep their members anonymous. This is a core requirement for maintaining operational effectiveness. In some countries, certain members are allowed to forgo anonymity because they hold administrative roles and never operate in the field. In others, however, maintaining anonymity for everyone affected to a critical role is considered essential. This is the philosophy behind Israel's Unit 8200.
In this blog post, we will describe what this unit is and what it does, and explain how its chief revealed his identity as a result of poor OPSEC.
Unit 8200
What it is
First of all, let us describe what Unit 8200 is and what it does. Unit 8200 is an Israeli intelligence corps unit within the Israel Defense Forces. Its primary role is to conduct clandestine operations on behalf of the Israeli government. One of its main areas of expertise is cyberwarfare, which makes it highly active online and particularly effective in terms of OPSEC. This unit is widely regarded as one of the most efficient intelligence units in the world.
The government places so much trust in this unit that it has become the largest unit within the Israel Defense Forces. One distinctive aspect of Unit 8200 is that it is composed mainly of members aged between 18 and 21. Recruitment often begins in high school, with candidates trained through specialized after-school programs. Unit 8200 is led by a commander and a deputy commander, the latter holding the rank of colonel. The identities of both officers are kept secret.
Controversies
Over time, Unit 8200 has faced multiple controversies, as it has been involved in operations that have had negative impacts on civilians.
In 2014, 43 veterans published an open letter revealing that Unit 8200 conducted intrusive surveillance on Palestinian civilians, collecting large amounts of personal information. This letter showed that Unit 8200 was not only carrying out operations against or monitoring other governments, but was also targeting civilian populations, effectively including them in cyber warfare activities.
In 2023–2024, it was revealed that Unit 8200 was using artificial intelligence to select targets for the Israeli government. The goal of this AI system, named Lavender, was to identify Hamas operatives in Gaza and designate them for surveillance or lethal actions. The recent war between Israel and Palestine, along with the high number of civilian casualties in Palestine, illustrates how dangerous such targeting tools can be when used at scale.
Veterans of Unit 8200 went on to develop the Pegasus spyware. This tool was originally presented as a defensive system intended to gather intelligence on terrorists and criminal networks. However, as is often the case with government-developed "defensive" tools, it quickly became an offensive instrument used to control populations. Pegasus was found on the devices of journalists, activists, political opponents, and even heads of state. This means that Israel was effectively spying on individuals who opposed its policies, in order to collect information on them and gain leverage and power over them.
How the Unit 8200 chief revealed his identity
Now that we have discussed Unit 8200 and its activities, let us examine how its commander made a serious OPSEC failure that revealed his identity. Yossi Sariel, the commander of Unit 8200, decided to write a book outlining the blueprints for advanced AI-powered systems that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been developing during the six-month war in Gaza. This book, published in 2021, was released under the name Brigadier General YS. Yes, he used the initials of his first and last name as his pen name. While that was careless, it was not what ultimately led to his exposure.
The real issue came from his decision to sell the book on Amazon. To do so, an email address must be linked to an Amazon account. This is not necessarily a problem if one knows how to use a properly anonymous email address. However, selling products on Amazon remains risky, as it is a U.S.-based company that is widely known for collecting extensive user data and sharing it with the U.S. government when required. However, Brigadier General YS chose to use a Gmail address, linked to a Google account registered under his real name, to create his Amazon account. This meant that the head of one of the most powerful intelligence units in the world used an email service and a sales platform operated by two companies known for close cooperation with the U.S. government to sell a book written under a pseudonym.
It did not take long for people to identify the chief of Unit 8200 based on his Google account, and the information quickly became public. Moreover, the email address he used was displayed as an anonymous contact in the electronic version of the book, prompting readers to investigate it further.
What could have been done better ?
Now that we have seen the mistakes that were made and their consequences, let us look at what could have been done to preserve anonymity.
How to securely choose a pseudonym
When it comes to choosing a pseudonym or a fake name, you may face different situations that determine the most secure approach. First, let us consider the case where you only need a pseudonym for online activities that do not require a first name and last name format. In this situation, almost any word can work. The most secure way to proceed is to use a random generator to create it for you.
Why do I advise using a random generator? It is simple. If you choose a pseudonym yourself, then, even if you do not realize it, the word is likely connected to you in some way. It may relate to your past, your hobbies, your job, or other personal elements, but there is almost always a link. That is why using a random generator is an effective way to avoid creating such connections.
To use a random generator, I recommend the one provided by Bitwarden. It is very easy to use:
Click on "+", then "Login":
Then, in the credential section, click on the logo at the end of the "Username" field:
Now, the "Generator" is opened and you can choose the options you want:
Here, the first pseudonym generated is “protozoan.” You can regenerate it if needed.
If you need to choose both a first name and a surname, you won't be able to use Bitwarden for that. However, there are other solutions available. One option is to use a specialized website designed to generate full names.
As an example, the following website allows you to generate a random name with multiple options:
As you can see, this is a clearweb website. Therefore, if you decide to use it, make sure to do so through the Tor Browser and with a VPN connected. It would be a shame to use a website to generate a random name and inadvertently expose your IP address or location while doing so.
How to create an anonymous email address
When it comes to creating an email address, there is a simple rule to follow: Never trust any email provider completely. The email protocol is inherently insecure, and any provider could be compelled to comply with government demands. Below are some examples of email providers that market themselves based on anonymity:
However, as has already been revealed in the past, because these providers manage the encryption keys themselves, they retain full access to users' data and can decrypt it if required to share it with authorities.
For this reason, the only truly reliable solution is to host your own email server, as explained in this article.
Selling something anonymously
Here is the last mistake made by Yossi Sariel: he decided to sell his book on Amazon. You can't remain anonymous while selling a product on Amazon, and there are several reasons for that. First, Amazon does not allow the use of secure or anonymous payment systems. Essentially, you can't use cash or cryptocurrencies like XMR, which means your transaction will never be anonymous. Services like PayPal, credit cards, or bank accounts are inherently tied to your identity and represent a significant gap in your OPSEC.
So, what can you do if you want to sell something online anonymously?
That's why XMR Bazaar exists. It is a platform where you can buy or sell a wide range of goods and services anonymously, in a secure way, using Monero (XMR). I know it does not have the same audience as Amazon and that there is no large-scale advertising driving traffic to it, but if you promote your product or service on specialized forums or websites, you can still reach a significant audience and get a solid start.
Once again, using XMR remains the only way to buy and sell goods and services anonymously. There are other XMR-based markets on the web, and people have managed to build an entire economy around it.
Conclusion
The key point to understand is that even if you lead one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world, you can still be careless when it comes to OPSEC. Moreover, trusting large corporations to protect your anonymity is a serious mistake. OPSEC is an all-or-nothing concept: a single error, no matter how small, can compromise every security measure you have put in place.
More importantly, if national agencies continue to be led by incompetent people, it remains possible to resist them by maintaining strict privacy and full anonymity online.
Suggest changes
Crabmeat
2026-01-27
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