Israel builds 'cyber dome' against Iran's hackers

Israel has been shielded from incoming rockets by its Iron Dome defence system. Now, it is building a "cyber dome" to defend against online attacks, especially from Iran.

"For the past two years, we have been developing a cyber dome against cyberattacks, which functions like the Iron Dome against rockets," said Aviram Atzaba, the Israeli National Cyber Directorate's head of international cooperation.

The directorate has been working to build a centralised, real-time system that works proactively to protect all of Israeli cyberspace, since the cyberattacks from Iran and its allies have increased.

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Atzaba said around 800 significant attacks had been thwarted since the war erupted. Among the targets were government organisations, as well as the military and civil infrastructure.

While Israel already has cyber defences, they long consisted of "local efforts that were not connected", Atzaba said.

While Israel is considered a major cyber power, Iran was only likely to improve, said Chuck Freilich, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, which is affiliated with Tel Aviv University.

He called Iran "an impressive enemy" in the online wars.

"Its attacks aim to sabotage and destroy infrastructure, but also to collect data for intelligence and spread false information for propaganda purposes", he said.

Freilich argued in a study published in February that Iran was relatively slow to invest in cyberwarfare, until two key events triggered a change.

First, its leaders took note of how anti-government protesters used the internet as a tool to mobilise support for a 2009 post-election uprising.

In the bloody crackdown that crushed the movement, Iran's authorities cut access to social media and websites covering the protests.

Then, in September 2010, a sophisticated cyberattack using the Stuxnet virus, blamed by Iran on Israel and the United States, caused physical damage to Tehran's nuclear programme.

Freilich said the attack "demonstrated Iran's extreme vulnerability and led to a severe national shock".

Since then, Iran has gained substantial expertise to become "one of the most active countries in cyberspace", he added.

Atzaba maintained that the quantity of hackers is secondary to the quality of technology and the use it is put to.

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