The simmering cyber conflict between Iran and Israel reached a boiling point this week as the two enemies have been going tit-for-tat in an effort to quietly take down critical infrastructure that security analysts dub something of an electronic cold war. cyber fight
“The fact that Iran is behaving so aggressively, and trying to disrupt critical services in Israel, is very disturbing,” David Kennedy, founder/CEO of TrustedSec, and a former hacker for the NSA and U.S. Marine Corps told Fox News. “Any time you have a state actor engaged in industrial sabotage, that is a real cause for concern. When you attack a critical service like water, power, hospitals, or transportation, you are essentially putting lives at risk.” cyber fight
Last month, Iran fired the first shot by purporting to cyberattack water installations – including tanks, pumps, and pipelines in Israel – raising the alarm among national security and cyber experts over the vulnerability of critical infrastructure. cyber fight
While some slight damage to water valves and control systems did take place, according to Haaretz, ultimately there was no persistent damage to the water supply as the hackers had likely intended.
And then on May 9, the Bandar Abbas port terminal in the south of Iran was suddenly crippled, and shipping traffic was suspended for days. Israel was behind the retaliatory strike back which successfully inflicted severe damage without causing casualties, the Washington Post reported this week.
Israeli Water Authority officials reportedly detected the attempt and immediately changed system passwords and took measures to secure their systems.
“It is definitely unusual to see a state actor targeting the critical infrastructure assets of another state. That type of activity is usually reserved for war or near-war situations, at least by most countries,” Kennedy surmised. “Iran doesn’t respect those rules.”
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