Hackers Shut Down a Tunnel Road in Israel
An unidentified collective of hackers, similar to those behind the "OpIsrael" attacks in April, reportedly managed to shut down a major tunnel road in the country two days in a row. According to an AP report based on interviews with cybersecurity experts, the Carmel Tunnels toll road in Haifa was locked down after a Trojan horse attack targeted its security camera systems. The first outage was just 20 minutes long. But the second started at morning rush hour and lasted for eight hours, causing major delays in Israel's third-largest city. Israel is often the subject of cyberattacks, but this one is unusually high profile.
At the time, officials blamed the September 8 and 9 closures on a technical malfunction. But Israeli officials know about, and have classified, details of the attack actually behind those closures, and seems to explain the tone of a recent speech by Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, who warned of possible escalations in the future, including "a cyberattack on websites which provide daily services to the citizens of Israel. Traffic lights could stop working, the banks could be shut down," he said, according to the AP.
RELATED: Ilan Grapel: Israeli Spy or Summer Intern?
It's no secret that hacking groups can and do target infrastructure systems, including those in the U.S. The AP notes that the hackers didn't resemble more sophisticated efforts from government-connected cyberattack teams, such as those working in China or Iran. Israel is a popular target for cyberattacks, though usually those efforts have little to no actual impact. This one, however, cost Israel hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
Of course, Israel has its own capable hacking cohort. For example: Israel's Mossad intelligence agency may have been behind a 2012 hack into former French president Nicholas Sarkozy's communications network. That's according to a document from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
(Photo: AP — Israelis work on computers at the 'CyberGym' school in the coastal city of Hadera.)
This article was originally published at http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2013/10/hackers-shut-down-tunnel-road-israel/70983/
Read more from The Atlantic Wire
• The U.S. Cut Off Funding to UNESCO Because of Palestinian Vote
