Iran-linked hackers have stepped up cyberattacks on Israel in recent weeks, wiping data at more than 50 small businesses and compromising about 50 public security cameras, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing Israel’s top civilian cyber official.
Yossi Karadi, director-general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate, said the attacks had not penetrated or disrupted critical infrastructure such as energy grids, banks, or hospitals, and that most of the companies hit were small firms that already had cybersecurity weaknesses, Bloomberg said.
Karadi described the destruction of data at more than 50 small Israeli companies in the past few weeks as an unusually high number. Firms with stronger cyber defenses were not affected, he said, according to the report.
The cyber directorate is also contending with Iranian hacking of public cameras in Israel, Bloomberg reported. Karadi said about 50 cameras had been hacked over the past three weeks, creating challenges for security personnel, though officials were able to quickly resolve those breaches. Israeli officials said Iran had previously used hacked home security cameras during the June conflict to assist with missile targeting and surveillance.
The report said the pace of Iranian cyber activity has continued despite what observers have described as a near-total internet blackout in Iran since the war began last month. “Some of them are using satellite capabilities, but there are also other ways that they can use to continue doing cyberattacks,” Karadi told the news outlet.
Earlier this month the pro-Iran digital activist group Handala carried out a cyberattack against U.S. medical technology company Stryker Corp., temporarily disrupting the company’s global operations. The FBI later linked Handala to Iranian intelligence services, according to the report.
Read more at Bloomberg
