INSS Global Cyber Review – June 2013
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עברית (Hebrew)
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Global Cyber Review
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Israel
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Israel under constant threat of cyber-attack
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Kaspersky Lab has revealed that in the first quarter of 2013, Israel identified almost a million network attacks.
According to Doron Sivan, CEO of MADSEC Security, Islamic hacker organizations could go through with their threats of making more concentrated attacks against Israeli governmental sites as was done again on Saturday 25.5. In practice, however, the threats that emerged were relatively weak. These attacks were a continuation of #OpIsrael that took place April 7th. |
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USA
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US – China to discuss cyber security issues amidst US concerns over Chinese cyber attacks
US seeking to empower governmental bodies to retaliate against hacking attacks |
On 28/05/13 it was reported that President Barak Obama will discuss cyber security with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as Washington becomes increasingly worried about Chinese hacking of U.S. military and technological companies.
Among the weapons listed as compromised were the advanced Patriot missile system, the Navy’s Aegis ballistic missile defense systems, the F/A-18 fighter jet, the V-22 Osprey, the Black Hawk helicopter and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Said espionage would give China knowledge that could be exploited in a conflict. On 23/05/13 it was stated that a new report from a private commission on intellectual property theft raised the possibility of changing the law to allow for hacking back. While it stopped short of directly advocating such attacks, it did call for a milder, legal form of hacking back and said the United States should consider changing the law if other measures fail. |
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Russia |
Russian cyber criminals on the rise throughout the country | Europol recently issued the UN Perspective Brief towards Russian organized crime groups (Russian Organized Crime Threat Assessment (ROCTA) which includes special emphasis on cybercrime. In particular, the perspective highlighted that whilst Russia is already considered the world’s major center of cybercrime and its citizens commit the highest number of transnational frauds on the internet, the core danger is the fact that those groups are gaining influence in the political, economic and judicial spheres. | ||
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Iran
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Stuxnet potentially aided Iran’s nuclear development
US concerned over cyber-attacks thought to be coming from Iran
Iran launches its own internet |
Iran’s nuclear potential may have been significantly aided by the Stuxnet worm that is believed to have infected the country’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz in 2009 and 2010. Research published in the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), claims the Stuxnet worm exposed vulnerabilities in Iranian enrichment facilities that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, and that production actually went up in the year after it was allegedly discovered.
American officials and corporate security experts examining a new wave of potentially destructive computer attacks striking American corporations, especially energy firms, say they have tracked the attacks back to Iran. The targets have included several American oil, gas and electricity companies, which government officials have refused to identify. Iran has quietly launched “Halal” Internet a closed-off, heavily censored national Internet free of foreign websites. In preparation for the country’s national elections on June 14, access speeds for foreign sites have slowed to a crawl. Access speeds for domestic sites, however, remain normal. |
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The Arab Countries
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Syrian Electronic Army carries out attacks on Israel though it is unclear with whom they are associated | During Israel’s “National emergency week” it was stated by Prof. Gen. (reserve) Yitzhak Ben-Israel, that during the month of May, the water system of the city of Haifa suffered a cyber attack. The group behind the attack is called “The Electronic Syrian Army”.
Israeli officials denied this report and claimed that the “print screen” that the group published from the attack was taken from an old attack that wasn’t connected to the essential infrastructure of the water system. |
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China and APAC
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Chinese hackers accused of cyber attacks against sensitive targets in Australia
Japan’s cyber security strategy |
Classified blueprints of the new ASIO headquarters in Canberra have been stolen in a cyber hit believed to have been carried out by hackers in China.
The ABC’s “Four Corners” program has discovered the plans were taken in an operation targeting a contractor involved with building the site. The stolen blueprints included the building’s security and communications systems, its floor plan, and its server locations. Experts say the theft exposes the spy agency to being spied upon. The Japanese government has written the final draft of a cyber security strategy. The draft calls for analysis of communications content by telecommunication carriers if necessary, the establishment of a cyber defense unit within the Self-Defense Forces and the establishment of a cyber security center within the government in 2015 as the nation’s highest-level organization to deal with cyber attacks. |
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Europe
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NATO to discuss cyber-security issues | A meeting of NATO defence ministers is soon to be held at NATO headquarters in Brussels. One of the main topics on the agenda is the issue of cyber defence, which has become an issue of increasing concern for the security of tech-dependent western nations.
To be discussed are the issues of attribution, potential targets, potential threats and also how to mitigate the consequences of said cyber attacks. NATO is responsible for the defence of a large number of developed countries whose critical infrastructures are reliant on technology and so cyber defence is becoming an increasingly frequent topic on the agenda. |
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The Global Cyber review is produced by the INSS Cyber Warfare Program Team:Dr. Gabi Siboni, Daniel Cohen, Hadas Klein, Aviv Rotbart, Gal Perel, Amir Steiner, Doron Avraham, Shlomi Yass, Keren Hatkevitz, Sami Kronenfeld, Matthew Barnes, Jeremy Makowski, Simon Tsipis |
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