news
The immune system winks at hackers, and it is not certain that the security wall is strong enough
Disabling storage refrigerators, exposing medical information and data corruption are some of the cyber threats to the national operation.
The storage and distribution chain involves many factors, and their protection systems are out of sync.
Cyber system: "We have carried out actions to improve the protection of the health system - hospitals, laboratories and health funds"
Tags
Vaccines
Corona virus
Ministry of Health
Data Security
hackers
Mikey Levy
Sunday, 17 January 2021, 05:58
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
Netanyahu in Nazareth offers the Arabs of Israel a new era: whoever thinks ...
Clashes in a demonstration in Nazareth against Netanyahu's visit to the center ...
Rabbi Meir Mazuz in an attack on the carrying of the top animals: "Al ...
The ruling party in Germany has chosen Armin Lasht as the new chairman ...
Yehuda Sternfeld, Holocaust survivor and initiator of the "Netzer ..."
USA: Joe Biden Introduces Financial Aid Program for Coping ...
First snow for the winter of 2021 fell on the peaks of Mount Hermon 14.1.21
Dr. Elrai Price: 140 critically ill patients were added per day ...
Dr. Mary Neil in a kayak
"Demand a vaccine for corruption": Thousands protest against Netanyahu ...
In the video: Another shipment of Pfizer vaccines landed in Israel (Photo: GPO and Yotam Ronen)
The vaccines arrive by air train, are stored and distributed under strict guidelines and the national vaccination campaign for the corona population is advancing at a rapid pace.
But in one moment, all that can change: a single successful attack by hackers on one of the links in the immune chain, can wield a tremendous effort and change the face of reality.
The Israeli information security company Check Point published a report last week, in which one line should concern those involved in the craft in particular and the general public: "A sharp increase in cyber attacks on medical institutions around the world by 45%, while in Israel there is an increase to 813 attacks per week. "652 attacks every week before November."
Shirbit and Ben-Gurion University have fallen victim to cyber attacks in recent weeks.
These cases indicate how critical the protection of the health system's infrastructure and its various arms is.
Damage to the infrastructure of the health system is always a challenge for hackers, but the corona crisis has raised the importance of the issue in Israel and around the world.
"The horror scenario is that the hackers' organization will claim that it managed to reach the corona vaccines and harm them," says Lior Ateret, operations manager of the software division of General Electric digital Israel, and head of the global information security research.
"The hackers will provide evidence of the move, it will create a mess and have consequences. For example, the public may be afraid of getting the vaccine and at the very least it will cause delays, or the citizens will not want to get vaccinated. It could potentially damage the refrigerator, But it is possible. "
More on Walla!
NEWS
Start the day right: How can you save valuable time in the morning?
To the full article
Queues for vaccinations for the corona in Ichilov, last month (Photo: Reuven Castro)
"When we talk about the cyber challenges of the health care system, we need to understand that these are not just the Ministry of Health and hospitals, but also health funds, private imaging institutes, laboratories and even doctors working from a home office - so exposure to risks is greater than it seems," adds Roy Schreiber, director. Accenture Security Israel, which provides cyber security to customers around the world.
"In such a corona year, in which dedicated departments have been rapidly opened, and changes have been made in the form of the hospital array, there is no doubt that such changes increase the chance of security problems."
Whereas so far the main concern has been hacking into a database and hardware manipulations, now the concern is from a situation where hackers will be able to sabotage the functioning of the storage and distribution chain of the vaccine.
The Ministry of Health has a "digital health and computing" unit that is responsible for cyber protection.
It is an internal arm that is not part of the national cyber system, but is supported by it.
HMOs receive cyber protection from private companies, which have closed employment contracts with the HMOs.
The array, which includes many entities whose cyber security is not synchronized, can create problems in protecting equipment and information.
For example, there may be a situation where one HMO uses one company's cyber security systems, while another HMO uses another company's system.
One company may recognize a danger or attack and know how to prevent it, but it is not certain that it will know how to update the other cyber security company.
Therefore, the protection against hacker attacks in everything related to the immune system is not hermetic.
Corona vaccine, Sheba-Tel Hashomer Medical Center, December 2020 (Photo: Reuven Castro)
The responsibility for guiding critical infrastructure was placed in 1998 on the General Security Service, in accordance with the Law for Regulating Security in Public Bodies.
However, in 2016, it was decided to transfer the responsibility for guiding the critical infrastructure, to the national cyber array.
Thus, in fact, every body that is defined as a critical infrastructure, receives close accompaniment of the cyber array.
The transfer of responsibility was regulated as part of a temporary order, and was carried out during 2017. The infrastructure of the health system is defined as essential, but not critical.
According to Schreiber, "extensive parts of the health care system are not yet defined as critical infrastructures and therefore do not receive the same treatment when it comes to protection against cyber incidents."
The Ministry of Health did not respond to Walla!
NEWS Regarding the way in which the ministry itself was prepared for the cyber threats during the corona, whether necessary adjustments were made and whether a scenario was taken into account in which they would try to harm the Ministry of Health's supply chain system.
Vaccination at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Center, December 2020 (Photo: Reuven Castro)
About two years ago the State Comptroller analyzed the readiness of the ministry, and showed the gap between the capabilities, to what is actually required.
"By the end of the audit, October 2017, two and a half years after the Director General of the Ministry of Health decided to formulate a policy for cyber protection and information security, the ministry has not yet completed its preparation," the report said. The
Ministry of Health then replied to the Comptroller that "a response must be made to the protection of office cyber protection intended for the Ministry of Health, and the response to the protection of sectoral cyber protection - intended for the entire health system." In 2015, the Computing Division prepared a detailed work plan on this issue, the purpose of which is to determine the health system's preparations for expanding the cyber protection system.
The document sets out guiding principles, methods of implementation and a plan of action in principle.
In 2016, the implementation of the plan began, in parallel with the firm's activities in the sectoral cyber protection process in collaboration with a consulting firm.
The first version of the document was completed in August 2016 and was submitted for approval and validation by the Deputy Director General of the Ministry, who upon taking office was defined as responsible for leading the ministry's cyber system, and decided to expand and deepen issues.
The bottom line is still problematic: the Ministry of Health relies on outdated work plans, not defined as critical infrastructure and although the cyber array has made the necessary adjustments, it still provides advice and guidance, but it is not the one that determines or makes the necessary adjustments in the field.
The cyber system deals with dozens of bodies and companies, and receives a general view of trends and dangers in cyberspace.
It is only requested that he engage and also determine how the array will protect the infrastructure, and also do so in practice.
"We need an active body that helps, and not leave the protection of information solely the responsibility of a private company," says Ateret, also referring to the fabric of the HMOs participating in the operation.
"In the field of energy or in the field of gas or in banks, quite a few entities receive the support and protection of the cyber system and have continuous monitoring."
A template with corona vaccines at the National Health Fund in Bnei Brak, December 2020 (Photo: Reuven Castro)
"As far as I know, the only health body under the guidance of the cyber array is the Red Star of David," says Ateret.
"The Ministry of Health is not an active body that monitors such threats on its own, and the activity there is very narrow. If you look at other companies, then they really have a national monitoring, control and monitoring center, with all reports from all relevant cyber bodies coming to it, monitoring, treating and not any body. We need to take care of ourselves and try to identify it.Our health system must be treated as a critical infrastructure as our residents need electricity, need water, need the money from the bank, they also need to have the ability to receive health services and from that moment the state should behave towards other bodies ".
According to him, when it comes to systems related to our health, disruption of the flow of information leads in the mild case to harm to the quality of life and in the extreme case to irreversible damage caused by incorrect treatment.
"Bottom line when we talk about terrorism - we are talking about sowing fear," Ateret concluded. "Disruption in the health care system exacerbates our fear in an unusual way and makes terrorism more effective. A horizontally directed attack can cause significant damage. If not in actual human life then even 'only' "In the way the economy, say, responds to such a scenario."
The cyber system: "The system's efforts with the health system will be intensified at the beginning of the epidemic"
The cyber system states:
"The health system in Israel is guided in the cyber field by the regulator - the Ministry of Health - which receives professional guidance from the cyber system. Performed resilience tests for systems of diagnosing and detecting the corona virus, and the system's efforts were even intensified at the beginning of the epidemic by the IDF's Cyber Defense Division.
Further control and treatment is done by the Ministry of Health and the bodies themselves.
The system also advises the Ministry of Health on the issue of transporting and storing vaccines in the aspects of cyber protection. "
Clalit said
: With the National Cyber Array.
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
