Israel Says it Foiled Cyberattacks against Defense Contractors

The Israeli Defense Ministry says that “cyberattacks” staged against unnamed security contractors were foiled by both the ministry and the firms. A ministry statement issued on Wednesday mentioned a group calling itself Lazarus, describing it as being “backed by a foreign country.” Other reports have tied the group to North Korea. “Members of the group used various hacking techniques, including ‘social engineering’ and impersonation,” the statement said. “They built fake profiles on Linkedin, a social network that is used primarily for job searches in the high-tech sector.” It stated that “the cyberattacks were identified in real time and thwarted by the Tech Unit under the Director of Security for Defense Establishment, in the Defense Ministry as well as the cyber-defense systems employed by the defense industries,” adding that there was “no harm or disruption… to their networks.” Israel has been in a cyber-war of late with Iran, which, according to Israeli statements, has tried to hack the country’s domestic water-supply system. Israel itself has been accused on several occasions of staging cyberattacks against Iran, whether in what was called a joint operation with the US targeting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear infrastructure or a more recent incident that halted traffic at an Iranian seaport.