Israel Establishes Command Center for Transporation Cybersecurity

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

The world understands that advanced transportation means and infrastructure require resilient cybersecurity and physical protection. Supply chain problems have been causing food and product shortages. Last year, hackers deployed ransomware attacks on a major agricultural services provider in the US. 

In Israel, Minister of Transportation, Merav Michaeli, announced today (17.1) the establishment of a cybersecurity command center for transportation as critical infrastructure.

In the US, delivery giant FedEx has asked the Federal Aviation Administration if it could install anti-missile lasers on cargo jets, according to a request filed earlier this month. 

Heat-seeking missiles detect and target heat from cargo jet engines, and because these planes are less maneuverable that a fighter jet, they’re hard to shake off. Gizmodo reports that anti-missile lasers act like a distraction, shining an infrared laser directly at the missile to disrupt its ability to track a heat signature.

“In recent years, in several incidents abroad, civilian aircraft were fired upon by man-portable air defense systems,” the application letter reads. The current application includes new features, reporting and important safety information for airline crew. 

Futurism.com remarks: The lasers shouldn’t pose a problem to civilians on the ground, then, maybe all passenger planes should have this tech?