On Sunday, rocket sirens were heard in Jerusalem and Eilat. Security officials believe the sirens could’ve been the results of a cyberattack.
The Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) suspects that hackers may have been responsible for the sirens instead of being issued by the Home Front Command network. A statement was issued by the Israel Defense Forces on Monday to inform the public.
According to the statement, the local authorities have been given the right to adapt preventive measure to counter the potential threat.
The Cyber Directorate is looking for leads. Their hunch says it could’ve been the Iranian hackers behind the so-called attack, as per unsourced reports in the Israeli media.
According to the residents of Jerusalem, they heard the sirens in Neve Yaakov, Katamonim, and Beit Hakerem neighborhoods. They said the alerts went off for an hour almost.
According to the initial statement of the Israel Defense Forces, the sirens went off as a technical malfunction. However, later on, it was noted that the sirens were heard through civilian loudspeakers instead of the military’s own network.
Over the last few weeks, tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated ever since a high-ranking Iranian officer in Tehran was assassinated last month, and Iran alleges Israel was behind it. Not only that, a number of scientific and security personnel deaths took place within Iran. There have been airstrikes against the country’s linked targets in Syria.
So far, Iranian leaders have also been active in sending rhetoric threats to Israel and strengthening their nuclear agreement violations.
As a result of these tensions, Israel coaxed its citizens within Turkey to leave promptly in the last few days with the concern that Iranians were scheming to kidnap or worse kill them.
Although the warnings were reported through unverified reports, however, it is being said that the Turkish and Israeli intelligence took care of a number of planned attacks that were supposed to be carried out by Iranian agents. The intelligence services have taken a few suspects into custody.
Check Point Research, an Israeli cybersecurity firm last week said that a certain group of Iranian hackers was leading a spear-phishing operation against Israel’s high-ranking officials and targets. It included the former US ambassador to the Jewish state and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni too.
Whether the tensions will continue to escalate or the two countries will settle their issues soon only time will tell. For now, the citizens of both countries have to stay on alert and keep an eye out for suspicious activities and report them to the concerned authorities.
