The Electric Authority is a department within Israel’s Ministry of Energy that is charged with providing utility services as well as setting regulations for the electricity market.
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The ongoing attack was detected Monday during two consecutive days of record-breaking winter electricity consumption, according to the Jerusalem Post, and is being contained with assistance from the Israel National Cyber Bureau.
‘This is a fresh example of the sensitivity of infrastructure to cyberattacks, and the importance of preparing ourselves in order to defend ourselves against such attacks’.
“Yesterday we identified one of the largest cyber attacks that we have experienced”, Steinitz said.
Israel has reportedly foiled a “severe cyberattack” launched against the Israeli Electricity Authority, which was discovered on January 25. According to a cyber analyst in Israel (Eyal Sela) the media reporting so far is misleading with regards to the context around the incident, reports Robert M. Lee of SANS Institute. The response included shutting down portions of Israel’s electricity grid.
Some reports, including one from the Israeli news site Ynet, states the Authority wasn’t hit by an attack, but instead with malware that prevented access to data “in exchange for ransom”.
Yuval Seinitz said: ‘The virus was already identified and the right software was already prepared to neutralize it. At the moment, there’s no indication the attack extended to the country’s power grid.
Reports suggest that someone conducted a cyber attack on Israeli power authority server while another report suggests it was a malware attack with ransomware capabilities.
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“It’s just unbelievable the authority’s computer system was not properly protected”. “Terrorist organizations such as Daesh, Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda have realized that they can cause enormous damage by using cyber to attack nations”, Steinitz added. “Cyber-attacks are a great threat and I am certain that they will become a major threat in the next decade”. This incident was later followed by an attack on Ukraine’s Boryspil Kiev global airport.
