Deborah Housen-Couriel, Founder and Principal, Housen-Couriel Law Offices. Deborah is an expert legal practitioner and consultant in cybersecurity, outer space law, data protection, and cyber incident response.
Formerly Chief Legal Officer and VP Regulation at Konfidas Digital, she is the founder and principal of Housen-Couriel Law Offices, a practice focusing on tailored compliance solutions for clients in Israel and internationally. Deborah also serves as an adjunct professor at Reichman University and Hebrew University’s Law Faculty, where she is on the Advisory Board of the Federmann Cyber Security Center. A member of the International Group of Experts that drafted Tallinn Manual 2.0, she also contributed as a Core Expert to the MILAMOS space law manual and serves as an editor on the Encyclopedia of Space Law. Deborah holds degrees from Harvard Kennedy School (MPA-MC), Hebrew University (LL.B., LL.M. cum laude), the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, and Wellesley College (summa cum laude).
She is a qualified international arbitrator, registered with the Israel Chamber of Arbitrators. Deborah is also a founding member of Forum Dvorah and a member of the Israel Branch of the International Women's Forum. Her most recent areas of academic research include cyberspace and outer space information sharing between the private and public sectors; and the critical nexus of cybersecurity and national security.
Recent research:
- Information Sharing for the Mitigation of Outer Space-Related Cybersecurity Threats, 72nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 25-29 October 2021 (forthcoming).
- (with Yuval Shany and Tal Mimran), Israel’s Version of Moving Fast and Breaking Things: The New Cybersecurity Bill, Lawfare, May 7, 2021.
- Information Sharing as a Critical Best Practice for the Sustainability of Cyber Peace, in Shackelford et al, Cyber Peace: Charting a Path Toward a Sustainable, Stable, and Secure Cyberspace, Cambridge University Press, 2022 (forthcoming)
- Hacking Back under International Law: Toward Effective Remedies against Cyberattacks for Non-State Actors, Cybersecurity and Legal-Regulatory Aspects, World Publishing Company, 2021.
- Policy Paper on The International Cyberterrorism Regulation Project (co-author), RUSI, July 2019.
- Information Sharing for the Mitigation of Hostile Activity in Cyberspace: Comparing Two Nascent Models, European Cybersecurity Journal, Vol’s. 4 and 5 (2018 and 2019).
- Between national security considerations and data privacy: two approaches to balancing a core normative tension in cybersecurity regulation, Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection, March 2019.
- A Look at Israel's New Draft Cybersecurity Law, Council on Foreign Relations, Net Politics Blog, July 2, 2018.
- An Analytical Review and Comparison of Operative Measures included in Cyber Diplomatic Initiatives, Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, 2018.
- Space Security and Cybersecurity: Intersecting Challenges, in Conflicts in Space and the Rule of Law, Monograph Series V, Centre for Research in Air and Space Law, McGill University (2018).
- Michael Schmitt (ed.), Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
- Cyberizing Counter-terrorism Legislation and Policy: National and International Developments, ICT Working Papers, 25 September 2017
- National Cyber Security Organization in Israel, NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, Tallinn, June 2017.
- “Cyber Law and Telecommunications Law”, chapter in R. Sabel and Yael Ronen (eds.), International Law, 3rd ed., Sacher Institute, Faculty of Law, HUJI, 2016).
Click here to read an interview with Deborah.