Our Strategic Advisors

Lior Tabansky, PhD, is a Senior Advisor at Pilus Capital, advising on cybersecurity, national security, and critical infrastructure resilience. He brings more than 15 years of experience combining academic leadership, applied research, and hands-on advisory work for governments and critical infrastructure operators across Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Lior is Head of Research and Development at the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center at Tel Aviv University, where he shapes national-level thinking on cyber power, strategic risk, and resilience of critical systems. His work focuses on the intersection of technology and geopolitics, including cyber capability development, defense innovation, hostile influence operations, and the strategic vulnerabilities of advanced economies.

He is the Academic Director of Tel Aviv University’s “Effective Cybersecurity” executive education program, which trains senior public- and private-sector leaders in cyber governance, operational readiness, and resilience strategy. In parallel, Lior has advised governments and enterprises on national cyber defense strategies, sector-wide risk management, and institutional cyber maturity.

Lior leads the PROGRESS research initiative, which models cybersecurity resilience at the sector level rather than the individual organization level. The resulting Sectoral Cybersecurity Maturity Model was adopted and published by the World Bank and is being deployed globally to support cost-effective digital transformation and sustainable development.

Lior is co-author of the book Cybersecurity in Israel, the first comprehensive insider account of Israel’s national cybersecurity policy and operational evolution. His doctoral research examined the structural failures of peacetime defense adaptation that have left even highly developed nations exposed to state-led cyber attacks on strategic homeland targets.

Lior holds a PhD in International Relations from Tel Aviv University.