IDF cyber chief warns Israel, US face far greater cyber threats than publicly known - Yonah Jeremy Bob

 

by Yonah Jeremy Bob

"We cannot mislead ourselves" into thinking that, because Israel has been strong in cyber defense to date, the country can sit on its laurels," Dagan said.

 

Maj. Gen. Aviad Dagan enters the role of head of the C4I and Cyber Defense Directorate, during a ceremony at the IDF HQ in Tel Aviv, October 28, 2024.

(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

 

Israel and the US face far greater cyber threats than have been reported or imagined, IDF Cyber Defense Directorate chief Maj.-Gen. Aviad Dagan said on Tuesday.

While senior cyber officials frequently discuss breaches that expose hundreds of millions, if not billions of passwords and data, Dagan said that dozens of attacks could have harmed real-world, critical national infrastructure.

Dagan warned that Israel’s assumption must be that future cyber attacks will dwarf what it has seen to date, and that the IDF must be prepared to combat this threat.

The IDF cyber chief stated that “we cannot mislead ourselves” into thinking that Israel can rest on its laurels because of how strong its cyber defense has been to date. Rather, he said, “We are obligated to protect national security. Along with our partners, we are developing projects and systems which will do exactly that.”

'We are obligated to protect national security'

He referred to the US as “our partners,” noting that American cyber military experts from the US Cyber Command’s Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber unit conducted a joint cyber warfare drill with Israeli counterparts at a secure location in America.

Iranian flag and cyber code [Illustrative] (credit: PIXABAY)

Dagan said that both countries benefit from these joint drills, which prepare them for the latest hacking threats and facilitate a shared language of cooperation in the event of a cyberattack.

Similar joint exercises have been conducted since 2015.

On April 23, 2020, Iran successfully hacked part of Israel’s water system for the first time. The hack was blocked before the Islamic Republic could release toxic levels of chlorine into the water supply, but Tehran was close to success, penetrating initial digital defenses.

Since then, Iran, China, and others have hacked Israeli hospitals and other institutions periodically, though, as of currently, they have not caused any major disasters.

According to foreign sources, Israel has managed to hack Iranian ports, countrywide gas pumps, and other infrastructure in response to Iranian cyber attacks.

Yonah Jeremy Bob

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-880453

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