From: imbibe@mindspring.com   
      
   Israel Sees Cyber Incursions Across Digital Systems   
   By James Rundle and Kim S. Nash, Oct. 12, 2023, WSJ   
   Cyber aggression in Israel escalated Wednesday night, as fighting entered a   
   sixth day Thursday and fatalities topped 1,300 on both sides of the conflict   
   between Israel and Hamas.   
      
   Hackers infiltrated Israel’s smart billboards, posting pro-Hamas messages   
   and images, according to cybersecurity company Check Point Software   
   Technologies. Israelis are receiving threatening texts on their phones and   
   WhatsApp messages from numbers in    
   Yemen and Afghanistan, Check Point said. Opportunists are also sending crypto   
   scams disguised as pro-Israel aid requests.   
      
   Attempts to access Israel’s industrial systems have jumped in the last day   
   or so, said Yossi Appleboum, chief executive of cyber company Sepio. The   
   activity, so far unsuccessful in penetrating the networks, has come from Iran,   
   Syria and pro-Russia    
   hacktivist group Killnet, Appleboum said.   
      
   “A week ago, you would see less than a handful of these in 24 hours but now   
   you see a handful in an hour,” he said.   
      
   Students, many attending classes remotely due to the violence, haven’t been   
   spared from online assaults. Israel’s Ministry of Education on Wednesday   
   warned teachers and families to better secure remote-learning tools after a   
   man in fatigues holding a    
   rifle appeared on screen during a high school videoconference.   
      
   Dozens of municipal and consumer websites were targeted in distributed   
   denial-of-service attacks since the assault from Gaza began on Saturday,   
   including the website of the Jerusalem Post. Such attacks bombard websites   
   with traffic, overloading servers    
   and sometimes knocking them offline for periods.   
      
   Denial-of-service strikes are seen as relatively unsophisticated and more a   
   nuisance than a serious threat. More concerning are potential attacks on   
   critical infrastructure, possibly launched with help from hackers in Iran,   
   said John Hale, professor of    
   computer science and cybersecurity at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.   
      
   “An organized effort backed by a nation-state changes the game quite a   
   bit,” he said.   
      
   Israel was already the Middle Eastern country most targeted in nation-state   
   cyberattacks, according to Microsoft research published last week. The surge   
   in wartime hacking has spurred the formation of citizen cyber brigades.    
      
   Members of the country’s large technology community formed the all-volunteer   
   Israel Tech Guard to search for hostages and missing people using clues from   
   online posts—some of which show disturbing scenes of violence.    
      
   “These are horrible, horrible, horrible videos and pictures, but someone   
   needs to do so,” said Lotem Finkelsteen, a guard member and director of   
   threat intelligence and research Check Point. “This is for the greater   
   good,” he added, speaking from    
   Tel Aviv.   
      
   Israeli cyber volunteers are also working to protect key services, such as   
   missile-alert apps residents use to know when to seek shelter. Many of these   
   apps lack heavy security features, having been built over the years by   
   volunteers, said Gil Messing,    
   Check Point’s chief of staff.   
      
   Other efforts include databases and websites for aid coordination,   
   applications for first responders and location services for displaced   
   civilians, said Sharon Seemann, a Tel Aviv-based partner at venture-capital   
   firm YL Ventures.   
      
   Similar citizen cyber brigades formed in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in   
   2022, with thousands of volunteers signing up to protect critical   
   infrastructure, and in some cases, launch offensive operations against Russian   
   websites.   
      
   On Tuesday, the U.S. deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging   
   technology, Anne Neuberger, said that the U.S. was “surging” cyber support   
   for Israel, without specifying what form that would take.   
      
   The U.S. can provide digital help in the form of redundant communications   
   links and replacement equipment for any technology that might be damaged, said   
   the University of Tulsa’s Hale.   
      
   Perhaps more urgent, Hale said, would be intelligence to supplement what   
   Israeli officials glean. “That’s first and foremost,” he said.   
      
   Israel has long been a center for cybersecurity startups, many of which were   
   founded by former members of the Unit 8200 military intelligence unit, which   
   specializes in cyberwarfare. The country hosts cybersecurity research and   
   development centers for    
   more than 400 companies, and its 300-plus domestic cyber companies have over   
   $3.5 billion in annual exports, according to figures from the Israeli   
   government.   
      
   While sirens blare in Israeli cities to warn of impending rocket strikes,   
   residents also have to deal with rampant disinformation, cyber specialists   
   say. One example includes a now debunked rumor circulating on social-media   
   platforms that militants and    
   their supporters had compromised Israeli water supplies.   
      
   Widespread disinformation and online threats about cyberattacks are a potent   
   weapon for Hamas, magnifying fear even if the group lacks serious hacking   
   skills, said Hale.   
      
   “Fear and panic in a society is what terrorists bank on,” he said.   
      
   https://www.wsj.com/articles/israeli-cyber-companies-rally-as-di   
   ital-physical-assaults-continue-90b457f2   
      
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