Israel’s ‘Cyber Dome’ Defends Against Iranian Hackers

Uploaded on 2024-05-08 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, GOVERNMENT-National, GOVERNMENT-Defence, FREE TO VIEW, TECHNOLOGY--Hackers

Israel’s Iron Dome defence system has long shielded it from incoming missiles and defend against incoming aerial attacks. Now, it is building a 'cyber dome' to defend against online attacks, particularly from Iran.

The Israeli National Cyber Directorate’s head of international cooperation, Aviram Atzaba, said in an interview that this is a silent, invisible war and that while they are ” trying to hack everything they can,” so far “they have not succeeded in causing any real damage.”

"It is a silent war, one which is not visible... For the past two years, we have been developing a cyber dome against cyberattacks, which functions like the Iron Dome against rockets." Atzaba said.

While Israel has fought Hamas in Gaza since October 7th, it has also been facing a significant increase in cyber attacks from Iran and its allies. According to Atzaba, around 800 significant attacks targeting government organisations, the military, and civil infrastructures have been defeated.

While Israel already has robust cyber defences, these consist of local, unconnected efforts and the directorate has been working to build a centralised, real-time system that works proactively to protect Israeli cyberspace.

Iran welcomed Hamas’s attack on Israel, and regional tensions have increased to unprecedented levels, particularly after Iran fired hundreds of missiles directly at Israel for the first time, in retaliation for a deadly Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Former Israeli deputy national advisor, Professor Chuck Freilich, has described Iran is “an impressive enemy” with powerful offensive cyber capabilities. Freilich describes Iranian attacks as being intended not only to disable critical infrastructure, but also to collect data for intelligence and spread false information for propaganda purposes. Freilich considers that Iran's cyber capabilities are likely to improve with assistance from Russia and China, as well an emphasis on cyber training for students and soldiers, adding that the trend was “concerning for the future”.

Iran's investment in cyberwar capabilities was prompted by the Stuxnet attack in 2010 that inflicted physical damage on Iran's nuclear program. The Stuxnet was widely attributed to Israel in cooperation with the US.

The Israeli system has various scanners that continuously monitor Israeli cyberspace for vulnerabilities and inform those at risk of the means to mitigate them. Israel’s cyber strength relies on close cooperation between the public, private and academic sectors, as well as Israel’s “white hat” hackers who help identify weaknesses.

“With cyber dome, all sources are fed into a large data pool that enables a view of the big picture and to invoke a national response in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.” according to Freilich. Of course, Israel is not the sole target of Iranian cyber attacks, with Iranian hackers also attacking US government and numerous private sector companies.

Iran International | CTech | Turkiye Newspaper | AFP

Image: Mohamed Nohassi

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