05/21/2020
Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center, Cyber Week
Multiple Israeli websites were a targeted amidst a large scale cyberattack today. Among them, many were defaced with threatening and anti-Israel messages and had to be take down.
Despite the fact that the attack targeted a large number of websites and seems to be coordinated, websites defacement is not considered to be a complicated type of attack and does not require high technical skills.
The attack’s proximity to the last reports on the May 9th cyberattack that had disrupted shipping traffic at the ‘Shahid Rajaee’ port in the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, which media agencies attributed to Israel, have led to the estimation that the website defacement was an Iranian retribution.
If this is the case, we are witnessing a very limited response, aimed at displaying some degree of revenge without risking another Israeli response. Another point which may explain choosing in this type of attack is that the Israeli National Cyber Directorate, which is responsible for the cyber security of national critical infrastructure, is in a state of high vigilance due to the Corona crisis and its related cyber threats and due to the failed Iranian cyberattack on Israeli water infrastructure which took place last month. This state of high readiness, along with the many preparations which had been made by the Directorate would have turned another attack on the Israeli critical infrastructure highly unlikely, and could have led Iran to choose a much easier target.
Nevertheless, it seems more likely that the attack is a part of the annual “Al-Quds Day”, or “Jerusalem Day”, where hackers from all over the Muslim world attack Israeli websites attempting to disrupt and deface them. The Israeli National Cyber Directorate has published an advisory on May 13th, warning of such attacks, which would take place between May 14th and May 22nd at the end of the Ramadan. These attacks are aimed to disrupt website services and spread fear but are very limited in nature and do not cause a severe and long-term damage.
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