7 July 2022

IDF official: Israel thwarted cyberattack targeting US power plants

ANDREW CABALLERO

Israel halted hackers from attacking US power plants, the deputy chief of the Israeli army's signals intelligence branch, Unit 8200, said at Tel Aviv University’s annual cyber week on Wednesday.

The IDF official said that his unit became aware of the cyber threat in the process of stopping another attack aimed at Israel.

“We also found that they were attempting to target US power plants as well. This was the first indication of this attack. It enabled preventing this threat, through tight collaboration with our fantastic American partners," Colonel U. told the audience, according to The Jerusalem Post.

He also explained how his unit dealt with the alleged Iranian attack in 2020 targeting Israel's water facilities.

“We saw this attacker attempting to poison the water in an attempt to claim human lives. We mitigated that threat far ahead," he said at the conference.

Cyberattacks have become an increasing threat for states, and Israel is currently facing a cyber war with Iran.

In June, hackers from the Shiite country allegedly targeted Israel’s rocket warning system, activating false rocket warning sirens in Israeli cities.

It was revealed just a few days after senior Israeli officials were hacked by Iran to get access to email accounts, stealing confidential information.

The commander also acknowledged the cyber threat Israel is facing, stressing that Unit 8200 is operating in a “quite tough neighborhood.”

“Counter cyber operations are a major part of our operations. Once we obtain superiority over the attacker, we then act to deny their capabilities,” he said according to The Jerusalem Post.

“First of all, by collaborating with industry and other agencies, but if necessary, we do it on our own, implementing ‘our tools’ at some point, somewhere along the attack stream. 8200 won’t rest until the threat is removed."

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