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IDF Hackers Test Readiness In Israel For Cyberattacks

Posted by timothy on from the like-everywhere-else-but-different dept.

cold fjord points out a profile in Al-Monitor of Israel's cyber-defense group, formed to test the country's defenses to electronic warfare and information theft. Groups, really, since it's run blue-vs-red style, with constant scenario preparation and intrusion attempts. The two (anonymized) leaders of the Blue and Red teams talk about the mind-set and skills that it takes to be in their unit, which they point out is not the place for soda and pizza hijinks. Says "Capt. A": "We are constantly preparing for the next war or the next drill. And in between, we may have some fun dissecting the system and drawing conclusions together. The idea is to instruct the monitoring bodies, [and] to make them understand what they should look for and how to respond."

10 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. Balanced attack by govett · · Score: 2

    Offense and defense.

  2. In other words by fustakrakich · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They're spying on us again, not that they ever stopped. This isn't a 'drill'. It's thinly disguised espionage. But, since we're 'on the same side', it's all okay.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:In other words by gtall · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Jeezes, you have a depth of -1mm. Spying serves a very useful function. It prevents surprises. It was put to good use during the Cold War. The Soviet Union could see what the U.S. was doing and visa versa. It prevent stupid things from happening based on no information or false information. Who cares if Israel spies on the U.S. The U.S. spies on Israel. It helps both side calibrate their actions.

    2. Re:In other words by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 2

      I'll take their word for it that they and every other sigint agency around the world ALSO do intrusion drills against their own systems to see how well they work at foiling external adversaries, such as China, Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain and the USA, and whether they can tell anything about what's hidden in the systems they can't penetrate or that they only THINK they have penetrated.

  3. Re:Why So Serious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I think you may want to comment on the actual article, rather than the summary. eg.

    Capt. A. notes, "The best way to break into a system is not by running head-on into it. Rather, the most sophisticated attacks, the ones that you can brag about, are those that take advantage of a hidden security hole. A few months ago, there was a wet exercise simulating a cyber attack. For several hours, we were hitting end-point nodes, trying to find a way to break in. Our intrusion attempts were seen by soldiers watching us across all army units.

    and

    However, it is the way of thinking and the personal knowledge that I deem most important. We seek to impart the value of creative thinking to all our soldiers. You have to constantly think of new ways to attack. That’s why we recruit young people with fresh and original thinking. At the end of the day, hacking is like any other knowledge. With time, one can become rather conservative and adopt a fixed way of thinking."

  4. great content from israel's #1 fan cold fjord by Rujiel · · Score: 2

    I guess when your country does things like create stuxnet, you could probably expect a repercussion or two, huh?

    1. Re: great content from israel's #1 fan cold fjord by Rujiel · · Score: 3, Informative

      Iran actually offered to pay the US to enrich its uranium so it wouldn't need to seek the ability. The US of course refused. Not to mention, some Iran's top nuclear scientists now were trained at MIT back when iran was In the US favor. But even if iran were seeking it as a weapon, I can play the "retaliation" card too: their nuclear program is payback for our selling Saddam gas and giving him the Intel to use it on Iranian soldiers.

  5. The US and israel cooperate more than anything by Rujiel · · Score: 2

    ..to spy on anyone, including US citizens, information about which the NSA has been caught read handed giving, wholesale and unredacted, to israel. You're ok with this? My, aren't you trusting.

    1. Re:The US and israel cooperate more than anything by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 2

      The US government definitely DOES NOT trust Israel and most especially not its spy agency. Otherwise, why do you think Jonathan Pollard is in prison? Why was Lawrence Franklin charged with espionage?

  6. conspiracy theorists, no. by Rujiel · · Score: 2

    Mindless disinformation spam.. yes. Threads about the NSA or Israel are always full of distractionary anonymous shitposting. Ever wonder why?