Israel hit with one of its ‘largest cyberattacks’

Israel’s Electricity Authority has been hit with a “severe cyberattack” that officials are working to eradicate, according to local reports.

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz revealed the hack on Tuesday, saying it is “one of the largest cyberattacks that we have experienced,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

{mosads}Authorities, including the Israel National Cyber Bureau, have been working since Monday to get computer systems up and running again, Steinitz added during remarks at the CyberTech conference in Tel Aviv.

“The virus was already identified and the right software was already prepared to neutralize it,” he said, the Times of Israel reported. “We had to paralyze many of the computers of the Israeli Electricity Authority. We are handling the situation and I hope that soon, this very serious event will be over … but as of now, computer systems are still not working as they should.”

Israel, commonly viewed as one of the world’s leading sources of cyber talent, has not yet publicly named any suspects in the attack. In the past, Israel has faced suspected cyberattacks from the Iranian government, Hezbollah-affiliated hackers and the hacking collective Anonymous.

“This is a fresh example of the sensitivity of infrastructure to cyberattacks, and the importance of preparing ourselves in order to defend ourselves against such attacks,” Steinitz said, according to the Times of Israel.

The digital assault came during a period of below-freezing temperatures in Israel, driving two consecutive days of record-breaking winter electricity consumption, the Jerusalem Post reported.

An Israeli military official recently warned that the world was likely to see a ramp up in cyberattacks now that the nuclear deal with Iran had been reached. In the pact, which Israel opposed, five global powers agreed to roll back international sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran dismantling much of its nuclear program.

“In 2015, all the actors were trying to behave well, be good boys, because the global political system was very concentrated on the efforts to reach an arrangement regarding the Iranian issue,” said Major General Uzi Moskovitz, head of the Israeli Defence Forces’ C4I Corps.

Moskovitz pointed to the recent attacks on a Ukrainian power plant and Turkish banks as evidence. The Ukrainian hack led to the first known blackout caused by a cyberattack.

Media reports on the attack at Israel’s Electricity Authority did not indicate the hackers had caused any power disruption.