After SolarWinds hack, Israel reexamines its cybersecurity

A series of recent mega hacks against the US reveal how much the risk of cyber attacks has also escalated for Israel.

The hacks may provide useful examples of what needs to be done in Israel to protect its own vital resources, including its water supply. Risks have also spiked that a hack of a private company could lead to the infiltration of a wide number of government and security agencies.

On December 13, it was announced that Texas-based software firm SolarWinds Corp. was the victim of a Russian hacking campaign. Top US cyber officials said earlier this month that nine federal agencies and 100 private-sector companies had been affected by the hack. The repercussion of the hack was severe: the vast majority of US government institutions, including many in the defense and cyber establishment, had been hacked by Russia and their data had been harvested for months.

Then on February 5 it was announced that the water supply of the small 15,000-person town of Oldsmar, Florida (near Tampa Bay) had been hacked and that absent the intervention of one human monitor, the water could have been poisoned – leading to a mass death incident.

Israel is no stranger to these dangers.

In the spring of 2020, a series of Israeli officials indicated, off-the-record and with clear public hints, that Iran had hacked part of the country’s water supply.

While Israel was able to block the attack from spiraling past some initial success to avoid the loss of life, Israel National Cyber Directorate Chief Yigal Unna said it was a major turning point in cyber history and that “cyber winter is coming, and it is faster and stronger than the worst estimates.”

Since then, there were three other less high profile attempts to hack Israel’s water supply, including as recently as December.

In addition, insurance giant Shirbit was hacked, Israel Aerospace Industries was hacked and hundreds of other…

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