INSS Cyber Review – March 2013

INSS Cyber Review – March 2013

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

Picture1 

Israel – Planned cyber-attack against Israel uncovered

4703831_sAn anonymous organization planning to commit cyber-attacks against Israel in April 2013 has recently been uncovered.  The attackers, codenamed “# OpIsrael”, are said to be protesting against perceived Israeli violations of human rights. # OpIsrael has carried out cyber-attacks against Israel in the past when it exposed the details of 600,000 e-mail accounts and the personal information of thousands of Israelis.

Israeli authorities have announced that they are not ignoring the threats and have responded aggressively.

USA – US cyber-security policy

15829781_sA secret investigative committee tasked with examining the growing use of U.S. cyber-weapons decided that U.S. President Obama should be the only person authorized to order a preemptive strike if the United States identifies evidence of a large-scale cyber-attack being planned against it. This recommendation is one of several that the government intends to put into practice in the wake of mounting cyber-attacks against the U.S. reliably traced to the Chinese cyber-warfare Unit 61398.


Russia – Russian cyber-warfare capability

11882364_sThe United States is in a race with Russia to build cyber-weapons capable of seriously damaging another nation’s critical infrastructure, says Scott Borg, CEO of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit. He says that Russia has built arsenals of sophisticated computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses and other tools that place it above the rest of the world in its ability to use the cyber domain to inflict serious damage on other powers.

Borg said that China and Russia have a similar capacity to cause mayhem, but have different priorities and skill sets.

Iran – The threat of an Iranian cyber-attack and their capabilities

17734050_s - Copy (NXP)

The chair of the U.S Congress Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Mike Rogers, pointed to Iran as the highest risk for a destructive cyber attack on U.S. critical infrastructure. According to Rogers, “they [Iran] are eager and ready to ramp up their actions against the United States”.

Moreover, Iran’s cyber police was added to the EU’s sanctions list, having been accused of grave human rights violations following the death of Iranian blogger SattarBeheshti, in custody.

The Arab Countries – Lebanon/Hezbollah

17695294_s - Copy (NXP)In the last few years, there has been an attempt to improve the cyber capabilities of Hezbollah by strengthening their ties with Iranian cyber-warfare units.

In the cyber-warfare field, many view Hezbollah as the hand of the Iranian regime, used to disguise Iranian cyber-attacks against Israel. Some even claim that the Iranian attempts in October 2012 to hack into American banks, Saudi oil companies and the attempt to fly an Iranian UAV into Israel, were launched from the Iranian cyber-war room located in the Dahia district of Beirut where Hezbollah has its headquarters.

China and APAC – China-US tension over cyber-attacks

6242390_sThe Whitehouse has demanded that the Chinese Government stop the widespread theft of data from American computer networks and agree to acceptable norms of behavior in cyberspace. The demand comes as sophisticated, targeted theft of confidential business information and proprietary technologies takes place through cyber intrusions emanating from China. The Chinese initially rejected the accusations, saying that the reports of Chinese military involvement were “built on shaky ground”. However, it now appears that they have adopted a different attitude, as a Chinese official announced that “China is willing, on the basis of the principles of mutual respect and mutual trust, to have constructive dialogue and cooperation on this issue with the international community”.

  

EuropeBritain’s cyber-security

12474909_s - Copy (NXP)British officials are concerned over a governmental report that claims the island nation is 20 years behind being able to fully defend itself from determined cyber-attacks.

The report, carried out by the National Audit Office, claimed that the country’s critical infrastructure is at risk due to a lack of resident computer experts and a lazy approach by the government on cyber-security.

It is has been estimated that cyber-crime and cyber-attacks in the UK are running up a bill of £27b annually.

 INSS Cyber Logo