Israel repels cyberattack on hospitals

Israel was successful in thwarting a cyberattack on several Israeli hospitals.

Israel’s National Cyber Defense Authority was successful in thwarting a cyberattack on several Israeli hospitals on Wednesday night.

The authority announced that there were attempts overnight to hack several hospitals.

Some 50 computers at eight hospitals were affected and were dealt with immediately.

No damage was cause, a statement by the authority said.

The attack was blocked by the hospitals’ information security personnel together with the National Cyber Defense Authority and “is being closely monitored.”

The hospitals’ functioning has not been impaired, the authority stressed.

A massive global-reaching cyberattack began earlier this week, hitting companies and entities around the world and causing severe damage with new and highly virulent malicious data-scrambling software.

Israel has so far been successful in surviving the attack unscathed.

The Jewish state is considered a global leader in the cyber security business.

Speaking on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel experiences “every month dozens of cyber-attacks on the national level. And at any given moment, including right now, there are probably three to five attacks on the national level that emanate from various sources – the usual suspects and a few others.”

In response, Israel established its national cyber defense authority, whose objective is “not only to respond to attacks, but to prevent them by early warning, to prevent them also by guidance, by teaching a systemic doctrine to the extent that you can be systemic in this business.”

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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