Crossroads Blog | CYBER SECURITY LAW AND POLICY

cyber attack, Stuxnet, warfare

Israel To Use Cyberattacks In Attack On Iran?

On November 17th, 2011, Spencer Ackerman wrote for Wired on how the Israeli's might use cyberattacks in an attack on Iran.  Ackerman notes that if Israel does attack, it has a number of very cool methods for jamming Iranian air defenses:  cyberattacks will disrupt cellphone networks, radars, and the Iranian military command network while drones and F-15/F-16 fighter jets attack the Iranian nuclear facilities.  Furthermore, the Israelis "might also possess the ability to insert a Stuxnet-style worm into the networks controlling Iran’s electrical grid."

The Wired article can be found here.

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Eli Lake further elaborated for the Daily Beast in describing some of the Israeli cyberattack capabilities.  These capabilities include "a weapon capable of mimicking a maintenance cellphone signal that commands a cell network to sleep” and "jammers capable of creating interference within Iran’s emergency frequencies for first responders."  Further, Lake mentioned how Israeli drones have been specially modified for jamming enemy communications.  Finally, Lake explained that the Stuxnet style worm for the Iranian electrical system would exploit the lack of an "air gap" (meaning that the Iranian grid is connected to the Internet, and therefore vulnerable).  This exploit was discovered by the Joint Warfare Analysis Center, a research lab attached to a US joint staff and combatant command.

The Daily Beast article can be found here.

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