Ben-Gvir Warns Iran: You Will Pay the Price for Cyberattacks

Naftali Ben-Gvir, Prime Minister of Israel, warned Iran that if it engages in cyberattacks against his country, it will pay the price. He spoke of cyber warfare as one of the serious and inevitable dimensions of future wars.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Ben-Gvir warned the Islamic Republic on Tuesday, July 7 (June 28), that if it engages in cyberattacks against Israel, it will pay the price for doing so.

Ben-Gvir made these remarks during his speech as part of “Cyber Week” at Tel Aviv University, addressing his overall approach to cyberattacks, particularly in relation to the Islamic Republic.

From the perspective of Israel’s Prime Minister, “just as there is nuclear deterrence, there will also be cyber deterrence.”

He clarified in this regard: “My approach in general, and specifically regarding Iran, is this: We do not unnecessarily sow chaos in Iran. This has never been our policy, but our position is that whoever engages with Israel will also pay the price for it.”

Ben-Gvir added: “One cannot attack Israel indirectly and through proxy forces and then think this will have no consequences.”

Israel’s Prime Minister stressed that even if cyber warfare is not the most important aspect of future wars, it becoming one of the serious dimensions of wars in the future is inevitable.

He added that if the Islamic Republic sends individuals to strike at Israel, Israel will also seek to strike the Islamic Republic in various ways, including “covertly and cyber.”

According to him, Israel has now gathered “a group of talented people” sitting behind keyboards, and their impact is similar to military forces.

In recent years, numerous reports have been published about cyberattacks attributed to Iran and Israel against each other’s institutions and infrastructure.

The most recent incident goes back to Monday, July 6 (June 27), when a cyberattack targeted some systems and equipment of Khuzestan Steel Company.

The company’s CEO spoke of an “unsuccessful attack” and announced that “no damage or harm has been inflicted on Khuzestan Steel Company’s production line.”

This was while a notice was published on the company’s Telegram channel stating: “Following cyberattacks against Khuzestan Steel Company and based on the assessment of relevant experts, Khuzestan Steel Company is unable to continue operations due to technical problems and will remain shut down until further notice.”

The CEO of Khuzestan Steel Company, denying this news, said the company’s Telegram channel had been hacked and the news published on this channel is not authentic until further notice, and the accuracy of any of its contents is not confirmed.

Israeli institutions and facilities have also been targeted by increasing cyberattacks in recent months.

Israeli media reported on March 14 of this year about cyberattacks on several government websites of the country.

The Jerusalem Post reported at that time that an Iranian hacker group claimed responsibility for these attacks. During these cyberattacks, the websites of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Interior, Israel’s judiciary, and the Prime Minister’s office were inaccessible for short periods.

Iranian domestic news agencies, including Mehr, spoke of the “largest cyberattack” against Israeli administrative facilities and claimed that the Mossad website was also targeted by these attacks.

Source: DW