Israel reports 3B cyberattacks on military systems since Oct. 7

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel has recorded 3 billion cyberattacks targeting its military computer systems since Oct. 7, according to Israeli media reports on Friday.

Col. Racheli Dembinski, commander of the army’s Center of Computers and Information Systems unit, told the Israeli daily Haaretz that “the number of attempted cyberattacks on IDF (army) computer systems has reached 3 billion since the war started.”

The attacks “targeted the military's main operational cloud computing systems, which include software used by the troops on the ground to manage the fighting, locate the forces and share real-time information,” she added.

Dembinski did not specify what types of cyberattacks were carried out throughout the war and what was their risk level.

“All the attacks were foiled,” Dembinski said, noting that: “They did not lead to even one occasion in which the army's systems have been taken out of order.”

She admitted that at the beginning of the Oct. 7 attack, she was “certain that the army's alert system had collapsed.”

The Israeli army said Thursday that an investigation revealed the military was “not prepared for the extensive infiltration scenario” that unfolded on the day.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Over 38,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 88,300 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio