Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Report: 'Powerful player' behind last week's cyber attack - Eitan Divinsky

 

by Eitan Divinsky

Reports reveal that last week's large-scale hacking of Israeli ministry sites was carried out by a 'powerful government source'.

The cyber attack that shut down a number of government websites last Monday was carried out by "a powerful player - not an individual hacker or even a number of such hackers," senior Israeli officials were quoted as saying this morning in Israel Hayom.

The report states that the attack is estimated to have been carried out by a country with an advanced technological network such as Iran. A government source quoted in the report said that, "The functional structure of our [security network] was maintained. The incident can be compared to a suicide bomber who was caught in the act while on his way to a bombing in central Israel, and was unable to carry out the attack."

A number of Israeli government websites crashed tonight (Monday), in what officials suspect to have been an attack perpetrated by Iranian hackers.

Last Monday, a state of emergency was declared within the defense system when a cyber strike purported to be the largest in the history of the State of Israel targeted a number of government ministries, including the Ministry of the Interior, Health, Justice, Welfare, as well as the Prime Minister's Office. Operation was resumed after over an hour's time.

"In the last few hours, a denial of service attack on a communications provider has been identified. As a result of this attack, access to a number of websites, including government sites, was denied for a short period of time. All sites have now returned to full capacity," read a statement from the national cyber defense system at the time.

The previous Saturday, 12 missiles were reportedly launched from Iran towards the American consulate in Erbil in northern Iraq.

While no casualties or structural damage were reported to U.S.-owned facilities in the area, a State Department spokesman called it a "scandalous provocation."

The Saudi channel Al-Hadath claimed the attack was launched in retaliation for the killing of two Revolutionary Guards officers in an air strike on Syria widely attributed to Israel, and a report on official Iranian TV alleged that the attempted strike was intended to target "secret Israeli bases" in Iraq.

 

Eitan Divinsky

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/324038

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