How to protect yourself from the expected cyberattack this week

The attack of the pro-Palestinian activists is approaching: every year at the beginning of April, an attack is carried out by a network of pro-Palestinian activists who are often identified with the "Anonymous" organization.

The attackers often aim to harm Israeli bodies and citizens as a response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This year this date is expected to be even more significant in the reality of the war we are in.

Attacks are carried out on Israeli entities by means of cybercrimes, including hacking and defacing websites, infecting victims who demand ransom, attacks preventing online services, exploiting weaknesses in software and hardware components, and phishing attempts (impersonated messages). The goal of the attackers is usually to create media coverage, to frighten the public in Israel and to convey anti-Israeli political messages.

A combination of awareness and the performance of simple and basic actions may minimize the potential for damage. How will you protect yourself from the possible attack? Here are some recommendations from the ESET information security experts:

• Be sure to update the software, applications and operating systems, so that they include the newest updates.

• Avoid opening suspicious emails: make sure you know the sender or that he is indeed reliable and not fake as far as you know.

• Avoid opening attachments from an unknown party, as well as clicking on links in an email that may lead to a fraudulent or malicious website.

• Do not give out your information easily, certainly not bank account and credit card details.

• Use strong passwords, and make sure that each service has its own dedicated password.

• Avoid clicking on advertisements that look suspicious, such as a desirable product at a surprising price or winning a cash prize. The ad can be used as a platform for phishing and by clicking on the ad can lead for example to an impostor website designed to steal account login details. Do not click on links sent to you on WhatsApp or Facebook. Even if they were sent by friends, you can verify with them that they actually sent the link.

• Use two-step verification (password combined with a code sent via SMS) that will strengthen the protection of email or social networks.

And in the meantime, the National Cyber Array reports today a 43% increase in reports of unusual events reported to the array's 119 hotline, compared to 2022. The report indicates 800 cyber incidents with the potential for significant damage that were prevented or contained in the period between October 7 and December 31, 2023.

According to the report published ahead of the cybertech conference to be held next week in Tel Aviv, of the 13,040 reports from organizations and citizens for this year's lineup, approximately 68% were received during the "Iron Swords" war. 41% of the reports this year dealt with hacking into social networks and WhatsApp accounts (2.5 times compared to last year last year), about 25% dealt with phishing attempts, and 13% with intrusion into the computer systems. The rest of the reports dealt with computer system weaknesses (9%), damage (3%) damage to functional continuity such as denial of service attacks (2%) and GPS disruptions (2%) ).

A significant part of the report is dedicated to the period of the war, during which there was an increase in cyberattacks that went from focusing on affecting consciousness and stealing information to attacks aimed at causing disruption and damage. As the war progressed, more attack groups operating on behalf of Iran and Hezbollah were identified. The cyber system worked to reduce weak points in hospital systems and systems Control in the field of energy and water, strengthening protection in approximately 160 local authorities and entities that make up the supply chain, and investigating crypto wallets.

As part of an activity to actively protect the economy, the array removed more than 2,500 malicious fishing infrastructures ("phishing"), handled almost a thousand reports on specific security weaknesses in organizations, and issued more than 367 warnings to the economy.

The data also shows that despite the significant decrease in investments in many sectors in the high-tech field that occurred in the last two years in Israel and in the world relatively, the decrease in investments in cyber companies was lower. Thus, 8 of the 10 largest "exits" (over $100 million) of Israeli companies this year were in the cyber field, as well as the scope of exits in the cyber field - approximately $2.8 billion, which constitutes 80% of all exits in Israeli high-tech for this year.