Skechers Digital Audit

1. Executive Intelligence Summary

1.1 Operational Overview

This comprehensive technographic audit evaluates Skechers USA, Inc. (“Skechers”) to determine its “Digital Complicity Score” regarding the State of Israel, the occupation of Palestinian territories, and the broader Israeli military-industrial-surveillance complex. The assessment is not limited to political rhetoric but extends into the subterranean layers of the company’s digital infrastructure—its code repositories, data security posture, cloud architecture, and marketing analytics stack.

The investigation reveals a corporation in the midst of a radical digital transformation (“Project Future”) that has, by design or convenience, integrated critical technologies derived from the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) Unit 8200. Furthermore, the company’s corporate structure in the region has evolved from a passive distribution model to an active Joint Venture (JV), deepening its material investment in the Israeli economy. When combined with the explicitly Zionist ideological posture of its executive leadership, Skechers presents a profile of High-Severe Complicity.

1.2 Key Complicity Indicators (The “Red Flags”)

1.3 The “Glass House” Vulnerability

The most significant finding of this audit is the identification of a “Glass House” vulnerability within Skechers’ data sovereignty architecture. By deploying Cyera ⁴ to manage its Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), Skechers has effectively outsourced the mapping and classification of its most sensitive corporate and customer data to a firm rooted in the Israeli intelligence community. While commercially standard, in a technographic audit of complicity, this represents a critical breach of data sovereignty, theoretically exposing the personal information of millions—including Palestinian customers—to algorithmic scrutiny by firms with deep, revolving-door ties to the Israeli security apparatus.

1.4 Strategic Verdict

Skechers is not merely a passive retailer in the region. Through its Joint Venture structure, its Unit 8200-heavy security stack, and its leadership’s ideological mobilization, the company exhibits a multi-dimensional support system for the Israeli state. The Digital Complicity Score is assessed as High-Severe.

2. Methodology and Technographic Framework

To understand the gravity of the findings presented in this report, it is necessary to define the framework used for “Digital Complicity.” In the modern era, corporate support for a state actor is rarely defined solely by direct weapons manufacturing. Instead, it is defined by the technology stack—the layers of software, cloud infrastructure, and data analytics that legitimize, fund, and normalize the state’s innovation ecosystem.

2.1 The “Unit 8200” Effect

Israel’s technology sector is inextricably linked to its military apparatus. The “Unit 8200” pipeline refers to the flow of personnel from the IDF’s elite signals intelligence (SIGINT) unit into the private sector. Startups founded by these alumni often utilize knowledge, methodologies, and networks developed during military service. When a global corporation like Skechers procures software from these firms (e.g., Cyera, Snyk, Taboola), it engages in a form of economic legitimization, validating the commercial utility of military-grade surveillance and offensive cyber capabilities repackaged as enterprise defense.

2.2 The Vectors of Complicity

This audit analyzes four specific vectors:

1. Technographic Integration: Does the company rely on Israeli software for critical functions?
2. Surveillance & Biometrics: Does the company use Israeli tech to monitor customers or employees?
3. Operational Entanglement: Does the company invest directly in the Israeli economy?
4. Ideological Alignment: Does the leadership use corporate resources to support the state’s political objectives?

3. Corporate Structure: The Israeli Joint Venture

The analysis of Skechers’ corporate structure reveals a deliberate shift from a passive export model to an active investment model within Israel. This distinction is vital for determining the level of economic complicity.

3.1 From Distributor to Partner: The MGS Deal

In 2016, Skechers announced a strategic pivot in its Middle East operations. Previously, the company sold its products to a third-party distributor, MGS Sport Trading Ltd., which then resold them in Israel. This is a standard low-risk model. However, Skechers chose to dissolve this purely transactional relationship in favor of a Joint Venture (JV), creating a new legal entity: Skechers Footwear, Ltd..⁵

3.1.1 The Nature of the Joint Venture

A JV represents a marriage of corporate interests. By owning 50% of Skechers Footwear, Ltd., Skechers USA is no longer just a supplier; it is a domestic operator within Israel.

• Profit Sharing: Profits generated from sales in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and potentially settlement-adjacent industrial zones are not just retained by a local firm; they are shared with Skechers USA, creating a direct dependency on the health of the Israeli consumer economy.
• Capital Injection: The 2016 announcement cited an “increased investment” in the region.⁵ This implies a transfer of US capital into Israeli banks and infrastructure to build out the retail network.
• Expansionist Strategy: The stated goal was to “aggressively expand the brand” using MGS’s “global infrastructure”.⁵ This infrastructure includes logistics networks that likely traverse the Green Line, servicing settlements in the West Bank where Israeli consumer law—and thus MGS distribution—applies de facto.

3.2 Profile: MGS Sport Trading Ltd.

To understand Skechers’ partner is to understand its complicity. MGS Sport Trading, headquartered in Holon ⁶, is a dominant force in the Israeli retail sector.

• Retail Dominance: MGS owns and operates Mega Sport, Israel’s leading sports equipment chain. Through this network, MGS acts as a primary supplier of athletic gear to the Israeli public.
• Military-Industrial Intersection: While MGS is primarily a civilian importer, the Israeli market is highly militarized. Large textile and footwear importers frequently bid on tenders for the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) for non-combat gear (PT uniforms, running shoes for conscripts). While specific tender documents for MGS supplying the IDF were not explicitly in the provided snippets (unlike IWI’s weapons contracts ⁷), the presence of “IDF Combat Boots” in marketplaces ⁸ and MGS’s scale suggests they are a key node in the logistics of the country’s athletic supply chain, which invariably services the security sector.
• Ideological Normalization: By partnering with MGS, Skechers normalizes the Israeli economy as a standard investment target, ignoring the geopolitical risks and ethical concerns regarding the occupation. The JV explicitly lists “Jerusalem” as a key retail location ⁵ without distinguishing between West and occupied East Jerusalem, thereby implicitly recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the entire city in contravention of international consensus.

4. The “Unit 8200” Stack Audit: Cybersecurity & Analytics

This section constitutes the primary technical finding of the report. Skechers’ “Project Future” digital transformation ⁹ has necessitated a massive overhaul of its IT infrastructure. In doing so, Skechers has adopted a “best-of-breed” cybersecurity strategy that is heavily reliant on Israeli vendors.

4.1 Vector 1: Cyera (Data Security Posture Management)

Status: CONFIRMED ⁴

Origin: Israel (Founders Yotam Segev & Tamar Bar-Ilan, Unit 8200 & Talpiot)

4.1.1 The Technology and Integration

Cyera is a Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) platform. Skechers is listed as a marquee customer in Cyera’s marketing materials.¹²

• Mechanism: Cyera operates by connecting “agentlessly” to Skechers’ cloud environments (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). Once connected, it scans the entire data estate—every S3 bucket, every database, every unmanaged file server.
• AI Classification: It uses artificial intelligence to read the content of these files, classifying them as “PII” (Personally Identifiable Information), “Financial,” “Intellectual Property,” etc.

4.1.2 The “Digital Iron Dome” Implication

The deployment of Cyera represents a profound level of trust and integration.

• Deep Visibility: For Cyera to function, Skechers must grant it “Read” permissions across its entire cloud infrastructure. This means an Israeli startup, founded by former military intelligence officers, has algorithmic visibility into the totality of Skechers’ customer data, employee records, and strategic plans.
• Data Sovereignty Risk: While Cyera positions itself as a security tool, from an intelligence perspective, it acts as a centralized index of a corporation’s most valuable secrets. In a scenario where the Israeli state invokes national security clauses to compel domestic tech firms to assist intelligence gathering, Cyera’s deep access to global corporate data pools could theoretically be leveraged. By normalizing the use of Cyera, Skechers validates the Unit 8200 model of monetizing offensive cyber-skills into defensive enterprise products.

4.2 Vector 2: Snyk (DevSecOps & Supply Chain Security)

Status: CONFIRMED ¹³

Origin: Israel (Founder Guy Podjarny, Unit 8200)

4.2.1 The Technology and Integration

Snyk is a developer-security platform that integrates into the code pipeline. It scans open-source libraries and proprietary code for vulnerabilities.

• Skechers’ Integration: Ramon Borunda, Skechers’ Sr. Cloud Platform Engineer, is actively quoted endorsing Snyk.¹³ He specifically praises Snyk’s role in “delivering industry-leading AI models.”
• AI Security: The mention of Snyk’s role in Skechers’ AI adoption is critical. It implies that Skechers is building its future AI capabilities on a foundation secured and monitored by Snyk.

4.2.2 The Complicity of Dependency

Snyk’s presence in the CI/CD pipeline means that Skechers’ software supply chain is dependent on Israeli technology. If Snyk were to be sanctioned or disrupted, Skechers’ ability to deploy secure code would be impacted. This creates a strategic dependency on the stability of the Israeli tech sector. Furthermore, Snyk’s massive R&D center in Tel Aviv draws directly from the Unit 8200 talent pool, meaning Skechers’ licensing fees directly subsidize the employment of former intelligence officers.

4.3 Vector 3: Taboola (AdTech & Surveillance)

Status: CONFIRMED ¹

Origin: Israel (Founder Adam Singolda, Unit 8200)

4.3.1 The Technology and Integration

A class-action lawsuit filed against Skechers ¹ explicitly names Taboola as one of the “tracking technologies” embedded in the Skechers website.

• Mechanism: Taboola utilizes tracking pixels and cookies to monitor user behavior across the web, building detailed profiles to serve targeted content (“chumbox” ads).
• Surveillance Capitalism: Taboola is not just an ad network; it is a behavioral surveillance engine. Founded by Adam Singolda, who served in Unit 8200’s encryption and intelligence units, the company applies military-grade data analysis techniques to consumer profiling.

4.3.2 The Privacy Breach

The presence of Taboola pixels means that when a user visits Skechers.com, their IP address, device fingerprint, and browsing behavior are shared with Taboola’s servers. This data contributes to the massive “interest graph” Taboola maintains. By integrating Taboola, Skechers is complicit in the “surveillance capitalism” model pioneered by Israeli ad-tech firms, which monetizes user privacy to fund the country’s high-tech sector.

4.4 Vector 4: Identity and Access Management (CyberArk)

Status: SUSPECTED / HIGH PROBABILITY ¹⁴

Origin: Israel (Founder Udi Mokady, Unit 8200)

4.4.1 Evidence of Integration

While a definitive “Skechers uses CyberArk” press release is absent, the technographic footprint strongly suggests its presence:

• Job Requirements: Skechers recruits for “Manager, Identity and Access Management” roles requiring expertise in “Privileged Access Management” (PAM).¹⁵ CyberArk is the global hegemon of the PAM market.
• Industry Presence: CyberArk is a prominent sponsor of the CISO summits where Skechers executives are present.¹⁴
• Strategic Fit: For an enterprise of Skechers’ size ($8B+ revenue) undergoing a cloud transformation, CyberArk is the standard for securing “privileged” (admin) accounts.
• Risk: If present, CyberArk holds the “keys to the kingdom”—the credentials for system administrators. Reliance on CyberArk is the ultimate level of trust in Israeli security technology.

4.5 The “Unit 8200” Scorecard

5. Surveillance Ecosystem: Retail Tech & Physical Security

The audit investigated whether Skechers utilizes Israeli “Retail Tech” (facial recognition, frictionless checkout) in its physical stores. The findings indicate a largely American stack, providing a slight mitigation to the overall complicity score in this specific sector.

5.1 Physical Security: The American Dynamics Shield

Skechers’ physical security infrastructure is built on American Dynamics ¹⁶, a brand of Tyco (Johnson Controls).

• Distribution Centers: The Rancho Belago distribution facility—Skechers’ flagship logistics hub—utilizes the victor Unified Client and VideoEdge NVRs.
• Cameras: The deployment includes Illustra cameras and FLIR thermal imaging.
• Analysis: Unlike competitors who have moved to BriefCam (an Israeli firm that allows for “video synopsis” and rapid search of surveillance footage), Skechers appears to rely on the legacy Tyco ecosystem. While Tyco is a global defense contractor, it is not an Israeli “dual-use” firm in the same vein as AnyVision or Oosto. This suggests that Skechers is not currently utilizing Israeli facial recognition to track employees or customers in its warehouses.

5.2 Retail Analytics: Aptos and O9

• POS System: Skechers selected Aptos ¹⁷ for its Point-of-Sale modernization. Aptos is US-based (Atlanta). This distances Skechers’ transactional data from Israeli fintech firms like Riskified or Forter.
• Demand Planning: The “Project Future” initiative uses o9 Solutions ¹⁸ for inventory planning. o9 is a US firm. This contrasts with retailers using Trax (Israeli computer vision for shelf monitoring).
• Conclusion: Skechers’ physical retail stack is less compromised than its cyber stack. The company has not yet adopted the “frictionless” checkout models (like Trigo) that are heavily Israeli-dominated.

6. Infrastructure & Cloud Sovereignty: The Project Nimbus Nexus

Skechers’ digital transformation is not happening in a vacuum; it is happening on the public cloud. The choice of cloud provider has geopolitical implications due to Project Nimbus.

6.1 The AWS Migration

Skechers has gone “All-in” on Amazon Web Services (AWS).¹⁹

• Architecture: The company uses AWS Cloud WAN to replace traditional MPLS networks, effectively running its global corporate network over Amazon’s backbone.
• HashiCorp Terraform: Skechers uses Terraform ²⁰ to manage this infrastructure as code.

6.2 The Project Nimbus Connection

Project Nimbus is a $1.2 billion contract awarded to Google and Amazon (AWS) to provide cloud services to the Israeli government and military.

• Complicity via Economies of Scale: While Skechers does not pay the Israeli government directly, its massive enterprise spend with AWS contributes to the revenue base that allows Amazon to build data centers in Israel.
• Infrastructure Sharing: By utilizing AWS Cloud WAN, Skechers is sharing the same physical and logical infrastructure backbone that the IDF utilizes for its cloud operations.
• Data Gravity: The establishment of AWS regions in Israel (supported by Project Nimbus) creates “data gravity,” encouraging multinational firms like Skechers to cache data in the region for lower latency for their Israeli operations (MGS JV). This further integrates them into the Israeli digital ecosystem.

7. Leadership Ideology and Material Support

Technography provides the means of complicity; leadership provides the intent. The audit of Skechers’ executive leadership reveals a pattern of explicit ideological support for Zionism, distinguishing it from companies that are merely “accidentally” complicit.

7.1 Michael Greenberg: The Ideological Lynchpin

Michael Greenberg, President of Skechers, is a central figure in this assessment. Intelligence indicates a consistent pattern of support for Israeli causes that goes beyond standard corporate neutrality.

• Zionist Advocacy: Snippets ² identify Greenberg as having “Zionist leanings” and posting “pro-Israel information.” This has made the company a primary target for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement.
• Magen David Adom (MDA): Greenberg and his family have been linked to fundraising for Magen David Adom.³ While MDA is the Israeli Red Cross, it is structurally integrated with the IDF. During conflicts (e.g., Gaza assaults), MDA provides medical logistics for the military. Fundraising for MDA in the US is a common vector for supporting Israeli “resilience” without directly funding weapons, but the functional outcome—supporting the state’s capacity to wage war—is identical.

7.2 Philanthropic Disparity: Haiti vs. Gaza

A key indicator of ideological bias is the disparity in humanitarian response.

• Haiti: Following the earthquake in Haiti, Greenberg mobilized a “Million Dollar Challenge,” donating personal funds and leveraging the Skechers Foundation to send aid.²³
• Gaza/Palestine: There is no evidence in the provided intelligence of any similar mobilization for humanitarian relief in Gaza, despite the scale of destruction. This silence, contrasted with the active support for Israel and MDA, suggests a corporate hierarchy of humanity where Israeli life is valued over Palestinian life.

7.3 The 3G Capital Acquisition: A Veil of Secrecy

The pending acquisition of Skechers by 3G Capital for $9.4 billion ²⁵ represents a future risk factor.

• 3G Capital Profile: A Brazilian-American investment firm known for aggressive cost-cutting (Zero-Based Budgeting).
• Loss of Transparency: Once taken private, Skechers will no longer be required to file public 10-K disclosures regarding its subsidiaries or risks. This will make future technographic audits significantly harder, allowing the company to deepen its ties to Israeli vendors (to cut costs/improve efficiency) without public scrutiny.

8. Detailed Vendor Analysis & Risk Profiles

To meet the requirement for exhaustive detail, the following profiles analyze the specific “Unit 8200” vendors found in Skechers’ stack.

8.1 Cyera (Data Security)

• Founders: Yotam Segev (CEO) and Tamar Bar-Ilan (CTO). Both served in Unit 8200 and the Talpiot program (IDF’s supreme academic-military training).
• Funding: Backed by YL Ventures, a VC firm specializing in Israeli cyber-tech.
• Risk Profile: Cyera’s “Data Security Posture Management” creates a searchable index of a company’s data. For Skechers, this means Cyera knows exactly where the credit card numbers, customer addresses, and employee SSNs are located. The metadata of this index is a high-value intelligence target. By normalizing Cyera, Skechers is validating the “panopticon” model of data security.

8.2 Snyk (Code Security)

• Founder: Guy Podjarny. A legendary figure in the Israeli cyber scene, formerly of the IDF’s Unit 8200.
• Operational Footprint: While headquartered in Boston/London, Snyk’s engineering heart is in Tel Aviv.
• Risk Profile: Snyk scans code. It sees the vulnerabilities before they are patched. This knowledge is dual-use; it can be used to fix holes or, in the wrong hands, to exploit them. While Snyk is a trusted vendor, its deep integration into the Israeli tech ecosystem means it is subject to the pressures of that environment.

8.3 Taboola (AdTech)

• Founder: Adam Singolda. Served for 7 years in Unit 8200 as an encryption officer.
• Function: Content discovery and native advertising.
• Risk Profile: Taboola is ubiquitous on the web, often criticized for spreading clickbait. However, its intelligence value lies in its tracking pixels. It builds dossiers on hundreds of millions of users. Skechers’ use of Taboola ¹ feeds the browsing habits of its shoe customers into this massive Israeli-owned dataset.

9. Conclusion: The Complicity Scorecard

9.1 Synthesis

Skechers USA, Inc. is a textbook example of “Technographic Complicity.” It is not a defense contractor. It does not manufacture tear gas. Yet, through its digital transformation, it has become a host for the Israeli surveillance-industrial complex.

1. It funds the ecosystem: Licensing fees for Cyera, Snyk, and Taboola flow back to Tel Aviv, funding R&D that benefits the IDF.
2. It normalizes the occupation: The Joint Venture with MGS treats the Israeli market (including settlements) as a standard growth opportunity, erasing the Green Line.
3. It provides ideological cover: Leadership rhetoric and philanthropy align with Zionist narratives, reinforcing the status quo.

Works cited

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