Dangers on the Internet

According to a survey carried out by the Central Bureau of Statistics conducted at the initiative of the Science and Technology Ministry’s National Council for Research and Development, there has been a significant increase in the number of discoveries, the number of license agreements and in applications for the registration of patents in the universities’ commercialization companies in Israel this past year.

There are eight universities’ technology transfer companies and five companies affiliated with research institutes and academic colleges, plus five attached to hospitals. Their role is to recruit, market and develop the knowledge accumulated in the institutions, take out patents for commercial products and help launch start-ups.

In 2016, 1,328 inventions were reported by the technology transfer companies, up 32% compared with 2015 and 55% compared with 2014. A 25% increase was also recorded in patent applications – 635 in 2016, compared with 509 in 2015. The number of patents approved in Israel and abroad also rose significantly, from 540 in 2015 to 813 in 2016, an increase of 51%.

Cyber protection

A new layer of protection will make it harder for hackers to impersonate Israeli websites.

The Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL), which manages the domain names in Israel, has recently launched the DNSSEC – a cybersecurity layer that prevents attempts by hackers to impersonate websites with the .IL extension.

The Israeli Internet Association has recently implemented a cybersecurity system for websites that end in co.il, ac.il, org. il, net.il, muni.il and k12.il. This layer of protection, called DNSSEC, makes it very difficult for hackers to “hijack sites” – a cyber attack that falsifies the URL of a particular site and directs users to an impersonating site. This type of attack allows hackers to create sites that impersonate the real sites of banks or other financial services and then to steal personal information and customer passwords.

To be protected by DNSSEC, publishers must digitally sign the information and submit information to ISOC through its system of registrars. The association distributes the information to the global DNS system, and from that moment on, the site will be protected from “phishing” attacks.

The initial stage of the project was launched last year in the Med-1 secure facility. Then the unique signature keys were created for the Israeli space (.IL) and distributed to the servers controlled by ICANN – the organization that arranges the system of names and addresses on the Internet. In recent days, the process has been completed so that the DNS information managed by the Israeli association, which lists the details of all the sites with an .IL extension, can also include the digitally signed information.

The association noted that the DNSSEC system is offered to the public for free, but its implementation by website owners requires a deep understanding and it is recommended that users seek professional help and search for information on the association’s website.

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Translated by Hannah Hochner.