Science & Technology

The Israel National Cyber Bureau in the Prime Minister's Office, which was established over a year ago on instructions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was responsible, on the national level, for advance preparations for the recent cyber attack. As the INCB identified the activity, multiple actions were undertaken in order to make certain that Government ministries and other bodies were prepared to meet the threat.



Before and during the attack, the INCB coordinated protective measures and activities among the various agencies in the country engaged in cyber defense. During the event, the INCB operated a national situation room which was in continuous contact with its counterparts in the relevant agencies.



The recent cyber attack was on a similar scale to that which occurred during Operation Pillar of Defense and concentrated on distributed denial of service (DDOS) and website defacement. In comparison to Operation Pillar of Defense, the damage was minimal.

The actions that were carried out focused on distributed denial of service attacks, the defacement of Israeli websites and the publication of citizens' data. During the attack, there was no publication of leaked data on any notable or potentially highly damaging scale.



An integral part of the attackers' efforts included false claims regarding successes. Accordingly, they published long sites of government websites which they claimed they had downed even though the latter continued to operate normally.  Such claims by the attackers were designed to extol their achievements in order for the operation to be seen as a success by the public.



INCB head Dr. Eviatar Matania: "The recent cyber attack had little effect and damage was minimal due to timely preparations by the INCB and by all relevant agencies which acted in concert throughout the attack."



INCB Civilian Division head Rami Efrati: "Cyber attacks on various countries are a routine occurrence in the new era, and Israel is no different in this regard. The INCB will continue, on a national level, to coordinate activities in Israeli cyberspace in order to ensure its continued activity."