Cyber authority pushes for firmer web defenses
The Israel National Cyber Directorate on Wednesday announced an initiative to incentivize web hosting service providers to better defend themselves and their clients.
A statement by the INCD explained that in May 2020, a cyber attacker managed to hack thousands of websites all by virtue of penetrating a single web hosting service.
Once it penetrated, the hacker managed to deface those thousands of sites with anti-Israeli propaganda.
In other cases, such a cyber attacker could also disable a web hosting service and all of its corresponding clients by overwhelming it with a denial of service (DDoS) attack or could steal secret information.
The trend of companies using such services and placing more and more of their critical information in the digital sphere spiked during the coronavirus era and continues to jump.
After realizing that the vulnerability for the entire massive May 2020 attack was one web hosting service site, INCD started to work on a forward-thinking program to prevent repetition of such an event.
According to the new initiative, the INCD will set multiple cyberdefense standards: platinum, gold and silver, which web hosting services can aspire to.
Anytime a web hosting service meets the standard for one of those levels, something which will be verified initially by a licensed supplier for such testing followed by the Standards Institute or the Institute of Quality & Control.
These institutions will check whether there is sufficient oversight over electronic, cloud, network access points, endpoints and services as well as regular monitoring and ongoing development of new defenses.
Companies can then be recognized at the various cyberdefense levels for one year, with the option of extending the recognition in future years based on remaining up-to-date with related requirements.
Once this happens, market forces will also encourage companies to choose web hosting service providers who have better cybersecurity defense.
INCD certification and regulation manager Anat Goldian said, “The plan creates a database of approved suppliers by the INCD and encourages organizations to make an educated decision regarding using web hosting service providers which are stronger in the cybersecurity-defense sphere.”
She added that the program “will reduce the cost of using cyberdefense technology for the websites,” as well as giving an economic boost to those providers that are the first to implement the new standards.