By Steven Scheer

TEL AVIV (Reuters – Israel’s government has ordered communication firms to increase cyber security in response to an increased number of attempted hacking attacks.

The Communications Ministry in Israel and Israel’s National Cyber Directorate announced that new regulations are being developed. They will require compliance with unified and mandatory standards.

The new regulations require firms to develop plans for protecting communications networks by combining monitoring and control methods to ensure privacy while maintaining cyber security.

We are working to set the appropriate standard for communications companies to help Israel defend itself from hackers and to create an ‘Iron Dome’ to prevent them. “We are facing thousands of cyber attacks each year,” Yoaz Hendel, Communications Minister, said at a press conference.

Iron Dome, an air-defence device that Israel employs to intercept rockets launched by Palestinian militants mostly from Gaza, is used by Israel.

Hendel indicated that there were still risks, and more digitization.

Hendel stated that communications networks were an appealing target for hackers. He cited potential damages to services or shut downs and information leakage.

Cyber security company Check Point (NASDAQ) reported that there was an annual 137% increase in attacks against Israeli businesses, reaching nearly 1,500 weekly in the first three month of 2022.

Gaby portnoy (Israel’s cyber security chief) stated that Israel experienced a dramatic rise in website-crashing attacks in the past month. Many of those attacks were perpetrated by Iranians, Portnoy said.

He pointed out that last month, an attack on government sites was started by a denial service attempt through telecom providers, but it failed.

Portnoy stated that Israeli telecom firms have very high cyber security, but the new regulations which provide a greater level of oversight would make this even better.