The construction industry reports a serious suspicion of a breach of a sensitive IDF system, which is used to approve the entry into work of Palestinian workers in Israel, and claims that this is a "breach that could harm state security."
According to the suspicion, speculators in work permits for Palestinians broke into the system, identifying files of contractors who do not employ workers from the Palestinian Authority.
The same speculators illegally registered hundreds of workers in the name of these employers.
This allowed them to speculate in work permits, and to offer workers a way to enter Israel illegally.
Beyond the fact that this is a criminal offense, and the workers are employed without insurance and illegally, the phenomenon described may pose a danger to the security of the State of Israel.
The Civil Administration website, run by the Civil Administration, began operating in September 2021. The suspicion arose among contractors after they recently received notifications from the Population and Immigration Authority that they were late in passing details used to create pay slips for Palestinian workers they employ, but after clarification - It turned out that these are construction companies that have long since stopped employing workers.
By law, it is the Population Authority that issues the pay slips, and not the employer itself.
Such inquiries from contractors were addressed to the defense establishment, the Ministry of the Interior and the Builders' Association of Contractors, which even wrote a scathing letter last Tuesday to the defense minister and the coordinator of government operations in the territories, warning of the break-in.
"This is the third burglary in some of the cases we know of, which occurs within a few months, and can damage the security of the state to the point of real criminal offenses," writes the director general of the Builders' Association of Builders, Amnon Merhav, in a letter to Defense Minister Bnei Gantz. Coordinator of Government Operations in the Occupied Territories Rasan Aliyan and Head of the Cyber Array Gabi Portnoy.
"Last week, two contractors who hold inactive employer files, surprisingly discovered that an unknown source had hacked the system and invited hundreds of workers on their behalf - who received employment permits and went to work in Israel. "They received a repeat notification in this matter. A copy of the complaints submitted to the police was also sent to the IDF, and from there it was reported that the issue is under investigation, and that they believe that the system is not safe enough to use," Merhav wrote.
Palestinian workers at work in Ma'ale Adumim, 2017 // Photo: EP,
"If that's not enough, last night it was revealed to us that this was just the tip of the iceberg, and a recurring pattern. Two other employers approached us with the exact same complaint. "In other words, 250 work permits were revoked overnight, apparently to order other workers under them, or due to the mistake of the burglars."
The alleged break-in was carried out through the defense system's "employer" website, which was built around a government decision (2174), which was implemented in December 2020, to introduce a new allocation method for employing Palestinian workers in the construction industry in Israel.
According to this decision, the work permit of the Palestinian worker is not held by the contractor, but passes into the hands of the worker himself, so that he can choose an employer through the website system.
The Contractors 'Association also states that the Civil Administration believes that no hacking took place in the system, but that specific breaches were made to the contractors' e-mail address in order to receive the one-time code that arrives there, which allows entry into the system without hacking.
However, an inspection carried out by the association shows that no code was sent to any of the mentioned contractors for a mobile phone or an e-mail.
"How do the burglars know which portfolio is a dormant employer and which is an active one? It is necessary that the system was hacked, and that they have access to all the information contained therein," the contractors' association claims.
"All along we have warned that the site and the database, in the way they are built and characterized, are a loophole calling for a thief, but our inquiries were answered indifferently, and instead of repairing the site and making upgrades and protections - all parties focus on futile enforcement attempts against suspicious companies." "Their activities are uninterrupted. The incidents described describe the loss of control of those responsible for the operation of the system, as they can not protect the registered users or the information contained in it," the contractors warn in their letter.
K., one of the veteran contractors, says in a conversation with "Israel Today" that in recent years, and during the periods in which he worked, he employed only a few workers (three to five at a time), and in the last two years the employer's file in his name has been frozen.
But he was suddenly surprised to find that he was "employing" 94 Palestinian workers.
K. contacted the employment service and said that this was a mistake, and asked to cancel all the employees registered in his name.
The next day he received an email from the Coordination and Liaison Directorate (DCO - the military body that finally approves the entry of the workers), with 312 names of Palestinian workers whose entry permit to Israel was revoked.
Building Contractor (Archive), Photo: Envato Elements
How did 94 employees become 312?
The Contractors Association fears that hackers who have reached the employer accounts of K. and other contractors are putting in more workers every day.
K. goes on to say that the next morning he arrived at the Rehovot police and filed a complaint.
"My bag is frozen, and 300 people are walking around the country on my name - it's horrible. I do not know who these people are. There is a danger to the country here."
The Coordinator of Government Operations in the Occupied Territories responded: "Upon informing the Civil Administration of illegal entry to the site, access to the site was blocked for the purpose of upgrading and improving security. MLM and the ICT system are treated accordingly.
We emphasize that the Civil Administration's computer system and the computer system perform intrusion tests at all times, in order to maximally secure the site and prevent future intrusions. "
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us