Cyberattacks against Israel’s critical infrastructure have increased following the Israeli police forces’ raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, one of Islam’s holiest sites. Anonymous, a hacktivist group, started the annual coordinated cyberattack ‘OpIsrael’ in 2013, which has targeted Israeli government, military, and financial institution websites.
Now, researchers at Cyble, a cyber threat intelligence company, have noted that hacktivists are targeting Israel’s critical infrastructure, which is heavily dependent on the proper functioning of the industrial control system (ICS).
These systems are used to control power grids, water treatment plants, and transportation systems, and since they are often connected to the internet, they are vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Cyble’s report has found an increase in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, global navigation satellite system (GNSS) attacks, database dumps, and attacks targeting ICS in facilities that primarily deal with water and other liquids. On April 9, ten water controls in Israeli agricultural districts were knocked down by a cyberattack, resulting in temporary interruptions to irrigation systems in the targeted farms.
On April 14, the hacktivist group “Electronic Tiger Unit” claimed to have accessed the SCADA water regulatory systems. SCADA systems have the capability to monitor various water parameters, including tank levels, chemical levels, UV intensity, environmental conditions, pumps, valves, and filters.
ICS attacks targeting OT (operational technology) increase the risk of significant OT incidents, reads the Cyble report. The attacks could have devastating consequences for the industry, including manipulating irrigation processes, leading to over or under-watering of crops, flooding or droughts in the fields, endangering industrial manufacturing, and causing equipment failure, downtime, and financial setbacks.
Attackers could extract confidential information from the ICS devices, including production schedules, customer data, and product designs.
Accessing water and chemical controllers could also cause significant disruptions to the production process by manipulating the chemicals used in the water treatment process, leading to corrosion of the pipes and boilers.
The increase in cyberattacks on Israel’s critical infrastructure highlights the need for more robust cybersecurity measures to protect industrial control systems.
These attacks could lead to severe financial losses and endanger human life, making it imperative that governments and businesses take cybersecurity seriously.
As the world becomes increasingly dependent on technology, the potential consequences of cyberattacks grow more severe, underscoring the importance of investing in robust cybersecurity measures.
