By Paul Shindman, World Israel News -
The recent cyber attack on a Florida water treatment plant that could have poisoned thousands bears striking similarities to Iranian attacks last year on Israeli water facilities that are part of an ongoing cyber war, a veteran Middle East analyst said Tuesday.
Political sources in Israel say that the cyber war has become a substitute for the use of conventional weapons in the war between Israel and Iran, said Arab affairs analyst Yoni Ben-Menachem of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Senior Israeli officials estimate that the cyber war between Israel and Iran will intensify in the coming year in parallel with Israel’s political struggle against the nuclear agreement with Iran.
Israel and Iran are waging what is usually a behind-the-scenes cyber war that sometimes spills out into public view, with cyber experts in Israel assessing that Israel’s cyber capabilities are at a higher level than Iran’s, which still remain a danger. As well, Iran has warned the U.S. it will expand its nuclear activities unless America unconditionally returns to the Iran nuclear deal and pays the Iranians compensation for economic sanctions over the past two years.
Last week, authorities in Florida announced that they intercepted a cyber attack on the drinking water facility in the Tampa suburb of Oldsmar, where hackers attempted to raise the level of dangerous chemicals in the water that could have poised thousands. Engineers at the plant noticed the infiltration and shut it down before damage could be done, and the investigation there is continuing.
The Florida water facility is about 300 kilometers (180 miles) from where former president Donald Trump is staying at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
Ben-Menachem noted that last year a similar cyber attack blamed on Iran tried to damage water facilities in Israel.
The head of Israel’s national cyber defense, Yigal Ona, described that attack as having destructive potential that could have caused a great deal of damage. An Israeli investigation is looking to see if there is a connection between the two cases in order to ascertain if the same person carried out both attacks, neither of which involved any criminal demand for a ransom payment.
Senior Israeli security officials estimate that the cyber war between Israel and Iran will intensify in the coming year in parallel with the Israeli political struggle over the nuclear agreement and Israel’s attempts to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from establishing military bases in Syria, Ben-Menachem said.
The cyber war has become an integral part of what is known in IDF parlance as the “battle between the wars” with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying recently that “Iranian cyber attacks are a daily matter.”
According to Ben-Menachem, cyber attacks play an important role in Israel’s deterrence against Iran, which is slowly discovering Israel’s offensive capabilities. According to security sources, Israel has the ability to carry out cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and on military and civilian targets alike. These attacks are carried out without “fingerprints” and help to put pressure on Iran in parallel with the political pressure on the nuclear deal.
At the same time, the Iranians have their own cyber capabilities that are of concern to Israel. It is estimated that the Iranians will increase their cyber attacks on civilian infrastructure of essential services in Israel such as water and electricity, and they will try to harm the Israeli economy.
