Leading internet security authority warns that Israel's defensive cyber measures are insufficient answer to threat.
By YAAKOV LAPPINCyber attack silly image 390(photo credit: Thinkstock)
Installing cyber defenses is a desirable but incomplete response to hacking attacks on Israeli websites, a leading Internet security authority said on Thursday.Prof. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Ben-Israel, chairman of the National Council for Research and Development, spoke about the high-profile issue at a cyber warfare session held by the Science and Technology Ministry at the Herzliya Conference.Comparing defensive cyber measures to placing security guards around restaurants to prevent terrorist attacks, Ben- Israel said, “It isn’t enough. We have to reach the source of those who plan [the attacks] and sends the attackers.”Ben-Israel said cyber threats have the potential to harm physical targets such as electricity assets, stressing that online strikes are merely a “technique.”“The solutions can also come in a range of fields, and can’t be limited to the cyber world. Some of the intelligence [on the attackers] can be ordinary intelligence,” he added.Ben-Israel said all of the Internet pipelines that link Israel to the rest of the global Internet were focused in a few channels, and proposed that computers monitor all incoming traffic to the country to prevent attacks.Meanwhile, the Isracard credit company dismissed claims by Palestinian hackers who said they publicized 26,000 new Israeli account numbers.The hackers, calling themselves OpFreePalestine, said the card numbers were stolen from a small sales site. But Isracard said the file was old and that no new active cards were found in it.
