In the wake of a reported breach of Defense Ministry computers, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu talked of the importance of cyber security at an Israeli cybertech conference in the Israeli capital on Monday, Globes reports.
“The biggest challenge we face with the cyber world is protecting the privacy and security of the public. There could be a serious breach,” he said.
“There should be a sort of UN for the internet. A coalition of the leading companies in the cyber world…and in my opinion Israel is the most advanced,” he added.
Fleshing out his plan during the conference, the prime minister said he envisaged hundreds of cybertech companies being set up in an unprecedented cooperation between the government and the business world. He explained that the more computerized the world gets, the more vulnerable we all become, and so we must deal with it in a systematic and focused manner.
“This project is big and reflects our visions to develop Israel with international cooperation. We all want to see a cyber-world that is open, free and cooperative. When you think cyber, think Israel,” Israel’s leader said.
The hackers broke into 15 computers, one of them belonging to Israel’s Civil Administration that monitors Palestinians in Israeli occupied territory.
The software managed to fool employees at the Defense Ministry because it looked like it had been sent by Israel’s Shin Bet secret security service, an Israeli cyber security firm said on Sunday.
The chief technology officer at Seculert, Aviv Raff, told Reuters that Palestinians were suspected of being behind the attack, but other than that he did not have any information on what the hackers did. The Defense Ministry declined to comment.
