From dentists to lawyers, the number of cyberattacks against Israel has risen significantly since the beginning of the war.
While large companies use advanced safeguards, when it comes to small businesses, the picture is completely different. Small business owners do not always have the means to defend against virtual threats independently, and the damage of this phenomenon can be severe. It should be noted that many small businesses that undergo cyberattacks do not report it at all, for fear of damaging the business' reputation, because sometimes they hold sensitive personal information of customers.
The National Digital Directorate, which is tasked with protecting government websites from external attacks, is currently estimated to be the fifth most attacked entity in the world.
The department says that Israel has become one of the most challenged countries in the world of cybersecurity, and even today the country faces many and increasing challenges.
The experts of the National Digital Directorate, in collaboration with the Cyber 7 community, a unit managed by the Ministry of Economy, the National Cyber Directorate and IBM, gave birth to the civilian cyber war room. The operations room identifies vandalism of sites and attack groups, and provides a solution for civilians at the end in terms of repair and monitoring.
The operations room intervened voluntarily in attacks that are not usually dealt with at the government level, with the understanding that the frequent incidents affecting Israeli businesses are part of the war, and that these businesses should be backed up, assisted, and raised in defense against future cyberattacks. During the period of operation of the operations room, 225 sites were found to have been vandalized, and 69 sites were assisted and advised by the staff of the operations room to deal with the problem.
Small open business, illustration, photo: Getty Images
As part of this activity, 92 attack groups targeted small Israeli businesses were monitored. 20% of the sites attacked had clearing services, which means that the damage to them causes great economic damage to business owners. It should be noted that more than a hundred business owners who own the websites did not even know that their websites had been attacked.
The attacks don't stop
The owner of the "Primatic" business for website promotion and marketing, Tomer Taibi, was called up to reserve duty at the front when the war broke out, and his business was left behind. Taibi told us, "One day in the reserves, I received a call from a customer who told me that he had a problem with his website and that the cyber operations room center contacted him. After he gave them the business owner's details, they came to me.
"It was explained to me from the cyber war room that I needed to check what was happening with the business, because cyberattacks on my clients' websites had been identified, which for me meant economic damage during this difficult time.
Tomer Taibi, Photo: None
"I checked my clients' websites, and to my amazement found that more than 10 websites had been attacked. At the end of the joint examination, I received from them a detailed report of findings and conclusions, which also includes precise instructions for defending against future cyberattacks."
According to Ohad Yitzkan, Director of the Command and Control Center Unit Against Cyber Threats in the Government (Government SOC) in the National Digital Directorate: "Since the events of October 7, cyberattacks have increased significantly alongside the intensive fighting, and have posed challenges of many cyber threats to government and civilian digital services.
"The war led to the opening of a joint defense front for cyber and digital defense, which stemmed from a partnership and a special connection between citizens and government bodies. While business owners and reservists fought on the front, the government and the economy went under the stretcher in the world of cyber defense as well.
"At a time when the business sites of reservists were subjected to attacks of vandalism and damage to businesses, the added value that the civilian cyber operations room brought with it was marked by assistance in providing a response to business owners serving on the front lines and their families on the home front, thus providing an additional layer of activity in the field of cybersecurity."
As stated, the operations room warns business owners of an attack or incident by collecting preliminary information, associating the information and identifying the business owner's details.
After identifying the details, the next steps are contacting the affected business owner, investigating the attack, and dealing with the vandalized site by the operations room workers in order to return to full health, while presenting future findings and conclusions.
"Prevent lasting harm"
According to a senior analyst in the Government Command and Control Center Unit in the face of cyber threats in the National Digital Directorate, Milo Avisar, "The employees of the National Digital Directorate came voluntarily to assist in the operations room in a variety of events and prevented ongoing damage to businesses, for which the scope of economic damage is very significant.
Ohad Yitzkan, Photo: None
The digital array is constantly working to create collaborations between high-tech companies and government ministries and local authorities, and the connection to the Cyber 7 innovation community opens up a variety of possibilities for creative collaborations between the government and cyber entities in Israel. I hope that this cooperation will expand in the future to other companies, as well as to universities and other government ministries."
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