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Irrigation Systems in Israel Disrupted by Hacker Attacks on ICS “The Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health” “Enhancing Mental Health Through Exercise”

The recent cyber attack that occurred in Northern Israel caused temporary disruption to automated irrigation systems, highlighting the vulnerability of industrial control systems (ICS) and how easily they can be hacked.

The Jerusalem Post reported that water controllers for irrigation systems at farms in the Jordan Valley, as well as wastewater treatment control systems belonging to the Galil Sewage Corporation were targeted. Farms were warned by Israel’s National Cyber Directorate prior to the attack to disable remote connections, but roughly a dozen farms in the Jordan Valley and other areas failed to do so. This led to automated irrigation systems being disabled, forcing farmers to use manual irrigation.

Michael Langer, chief product officer at industrial cybersecurity company Radiflow, said the impacted farms likely left their ICS exposed to the internet and used default passwords, allowing hackers to easily access and disrupt the systems. He noted that the hackers targeted programmable logic controllers (PLCs) made by Israeli company Unitronics, which have information such as default passwords and configuration options available online, and the devices run various software components that can be targeted by hackers.

The latest incident appears to be part of OpIsrael, an anti-Israel hacktivist campaign that occurs in early April every year. Industrial cybersecurity firm Otorio said that hacktivists conducted several attacks against water systems in Israel this month. They make exaggerated claims about their capabilities, but their attacks have shown how easy it can be to hack industrial systems due to many organizations failing to implement even the most basic security measures.

Radiflow’s Langer said the first step to achieving cyber resilience involves performing regular risk assessments to determine the organization’s OT security posture. He advises organizations that lack the capabilities and knowledge to conduct such assessments to use managed OT security services.

Key Points:

  • Recently, automated irrigation systems in Northern Israel were temporarily disrupted in a cyber attack.
  • Farms were warned by Israel’s National Cyber Directorate to disable remote connections, but roughly a dozen farms in the Jordan Valley failed to do so.
  • The hackers targeted programmable logic controllers (PLCs) made by Israeli company Unitronics.
  • The latest incident appears to be part of OpIsrael, an anti-Israel hacktivist campaign.
  • Radiflow’s Langer said the first step to achieving cyber resilience involves performing regular risk assessments.

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