ISRAELI ‘CYBER DOME’ TO REPEL HACKERS
▶ Companies ordered to strengthen online security measures after attempted cyber attacks surge by 137 per cent
Israel’s government has ordered communications firms to step up their cyber security after a rise in attempted hackings.
The initiative is intended to protect the country’s critical assets from increasingly frequent cyber attacks.
Its mandate, made jointly by the Communications Ministry and National Cyber Directorate, sets out requirements that include installing control and monitoring systems, and making boards of directors responsible for ensuring cybersecurity measures are in place.
“We are trying to put the right standard on communications companies in order to protect Israel and create a kind of ‘Iron Dome’ from cyber security attacks. We are suffering from thousands of cyber attacks every year,” Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel said.
The Iron Dome anti-missile system, which has been in use since April 2011, was designed to intercept and destroy rockets fired from Gaza.
Mr Hendel said that the risk of cyber attacks would rise as digitisation grows.
“Communications networks are an attractive target for cyber attacks by hostile elements,” he said, and cited the risk of information leaks should such services be damaged or shut down.
Attempted cyber attacks in Israel soared by 137 per cent in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period in 2021.
The most common targets included insurance, education, health care, government and manufacturing, said Check Point Software Technologies, a cyber security company. Some organisations came under attack more than 1,400 times a week, compared with 750 times a week last year, it said.
Gaby Portnoy, Israel’s new cybersecurity chief, said that in the past month alone, there had been a sharp rise in attacks that tried to bring down websites in Israel. He accused Iran of carrying out many of them.
Last month, Mr Portnoy said, a denial-of-service attack aimed at bringing down government sites began through telecom providers but failed.
In October, hackers breached an Israeli hospital in an apparent ransomware attack.
Mr Portnoy said Israeli telecoms firms had very good cyber security, but that the new regulations, which include a higher level of supervision, would be an improvement.
Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication, Israel’s largest telecoms company, said it was still examining the government’s requirements and declined to comment further.
A representative of the company said it already met strict cyber security regulations.
On Monday, Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, accused Tehran of using a fake Facebook profile to entice Israelis to gather and share information that could harm people in the country.
Days earlier, Israel claimed that Iran had plotted to assassinate an Israeli diplomat in Turkey. Ties between the countries have warmed as global powers seek to revive a nuclear deal with Tehran.
On Saturday, Israel said it had foiled bids by Iran “to assassinate a US general in Germany, a journalist in France and an Israeli diplomat in Turkey”.
The plots “were ordered, approved and funded by the senior leadership of the Iranian regime, and were intended to be executed by the IRGC”, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said a statement from the office of the Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
It said a man identified as Mansour Rasuli had been detained and interrogated by Mossad agents who said he had confessed to being hired to carry out the killings. He was then freed, Israel said.
Mr Bennett’s office declined to provide more information and there was no immediate reaction from Iran.