Israel National Cyber Directorate Director General: Exponential Increase in hacking attempts. Hackers targeting hospitals and medical centers
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עברית (Hebrew)
The Director General of the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD), Yigal Unna, attended the InnoTech broadcast on innovation, cyber, and HLS organized by iHLS, and said there has been an exponential Increase in hacking attempts since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, including quite a few attempts against hospitals and medical centers.
He said the current reality, in which everyday life has moved to the network, with remote work and systems operated remotely, with the need for connectivity higher than ever, has increased the possible attack surface. Unna: “The more we need it, the larger the attack surface becomes, bringing about threats and exploitation by hostile elements.”
Replying to the question who is behind these attempts, Unna says: “COVID-19 has created a situation in which young people have stopped their studies, bright highschool pupils and students all over the world, with a lot of free time and internet access have discovered hacking. Even if we’re talking about only a few percent globally, it accumulates to millions of young people. They hack and cause damage, without caring if it is a hospital or any other humanitarian target.”
Concerning what Israel should do, Unna thinks that Israel has been investing more resources and energy in this field. “We are working more intensively than in the past in order to minimize the threats, not only regarding critical infrastructure but all over the Israeli cyberspace. We initiate awareness campaigns and operate preemptive measures, such as counter hacking for the detection of vulnerabilities and breaches in order to fix them before hostile elements find them.”
“This is a brain game,” Unna says, “take Chess, Backgammon, Go, and other strategic games and put them on steroids. There are possible breaches everywhere, you have to be more agile and clever than everybody else in order to make Israel more secure.”
Yigal Unna emphasized that the national cyber directorate has been working in close collaboration with the Israeli cyber industry in order to encourage the Israeli companies and young startups. “We offer programs in which startups are invited to try their technology. Israel is more agile and strong thanks to its excellent human resources and the government’s mission is to pave the way for the industry.”
Unna thinks that with the lack of natural resources, the human resource that creates cyber innovation is one of Israel’s most considerable assets. “We do not have many resources. Our natural resource is daring, not fearing failure. In cyber this is a critical factor. On the one hand, someone tries to find breaches, on the other side you always have to be in advance and close the gap. In Israel, we are born to cope with this challenge. Cyber is Israel’s opportunity for excellence.
Could we worry less, with the advance of technology? Unna deplores the fact that he has no good news with this regard. “Winter is coming. The winter is here and it is becoming worse because we are more and more dependent on technology. With the advancement – the challenges and vulnerabilities grow. We have to run faster just in order to stand where we are.”
