Bennett warns Iran: You will pay the price for cyber attacks

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned Iran that it would pay the price if it engaged in cyberattacks with the country. He spoke of cyberwarfare as a serious and inevitable dimension of future wars.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned the Islamic Republic in a speech on Tuesday, July 28, that it would pay the price if it engaged in cyberattacks against Israel.

Bennett, who made these remarks during his speech as part of "Cyber ​​Week" at Tel Aviv University, discussed his general approach to cyber attacks, especially in relation to the Islamic Republic.

In the view of the Israeli Prime Minister, "just as there is a nuclear deterrent, there will also be a cyber deterrent."

In this regard, he clarified: "My approach in general and specifically in relation to Iran is this: We will not create chaos in Iran like that [for no reason]. This has never been our policy, but our position is that anyone who clashes with Israel will pay the price."

Bennett added: "You can't attack Israel indirectly, through proxy forces, and then think that this will have no consequences."

The Israeli Prime Minister noted that, even if cyber warfare is not the most important aspect and type of future wars, it will inevitably become one of the serious dimensions of future wars.

He added that if the Islamic Republic sends people to attack Israel, Israel will also try to attack the Islamic Republic in various ways, including "covertly and cyber."

According to him, Israel has now assembled a "group of smart people" who sit behind keyboards and whose effectiveness is like that of a fighting force.

In recent years, there have been many reports of cyberattacks attributed to Iran and Israel against each other's institutions and infrastructure.

The most recent case dates back to Monday, June 27, when a cyber attack targeted some of the systems and equipment of the Khuzestan Steel Company.

The company's CEO spoke of a "failed attack" and announced that "no damage or injury has been caused to the Khuzestan Steel Company's production line."

This is while an announcement was published on the company's Telegram channel, which stated: "Following cyber attacks against Khuzestan Steel Company and according to the assessment of relevant experts, Khuzestan Steel Company is unable to continue its activities due to technical problems and will be closed until further notice."

The CEO of Khuzestan Steel Company denied this news and said that the company's Telegram channel had been hacked and that the news published on this channel was not valid until further notice, and the accuracy of none of its content could be confirmed.

Israeli institutions and facilities have also been the target of increasing cyberattacks in recent months.

On March 14 of this year, Israeli media reported cyberattacks on a number of government websites in the country.

The Jerusalem Post reported at the time that an Iranian hacking group had claimed responsibility for the attacks, which briefly took down the websites of the Health Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Israeli Judiciary, and the Prime Minister's Office.

Iranian domestic news agencies, including Mehr, spoke of the "largest cyber attack" against Israeli administrative facilities and claimed that the Mossad website had also been targeted by these attacks.

Source: DW