Benjamin Netanyahu: Iran Significantly Increased Cyber Strikes On Israel

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed Iran and its Palestinian and Lebanese allies are targeting critical national infrastructure with “non-stop” cyber attacks.

Netanyahu issued the accusation on Sunday, saying there was a “significant increase in the scope of cyber attacks on Israel by Iran” in the last few months.

Netanyahu: We thwart most attacks

“These attacks are carried out directly by Iran and through its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah,” he added, according to a report in Reuters.

“Despite the non-stop attacks on us, you hear only about a few of them because we thwart most of them.”

He claimed water, power and banking were all at threat from Iranian attacks.

Israel is home to a vibrant cyber security industry. It is known to be something of a security start-up nirvana, partly because of the massive effort the Israeli government has put in to securing its systems.

Netanyahu created a national cyber directorate in 2011, designed to protect Israeli systems, although the administration has also been named as the co-creator of Stuxnet, malware that disrupted nuclear operations in Iran.

Israel was the focus on an Anonymous campaign in April, which claimed to have caused $3 billion in damages, but sources within the country said it achieved next to nothing.

What do you know about Internet security? Find out with our quiz!