Israel irrigation systems impacted by ICS attacks

Nearly a dozen farms at Israel's Jordan Valley as well as Galil Sewage Corporation's wastewater treatment control systems have been disrupted following cyberattacks targeted at programmable logic controllers by Israeli firm Unitronics, according to SecurityWeek. Such a compromise may have been achieved due to the facilities' internet-exposed ICS and their usage of default passwords, said Radiflow Chief Product Officer Michael Langer. Old attack vectors, including web usage for vulnerable human-machine interface or PLC web interface identification, have been leveraged in the attack, said Otorio Vice President of Research Matan Dobrushin. Anti-Israel hacktivist operation OpIsrael is believed to be behind the water system intrusions, with the group found to have strengthened its hacking campaigns yearly over the previous 10 years. Several water systems across Israel were also reported by Otorio to have been targeted by hacktivist attacks this month. "Small and medium businesses using remotely accessible OT technology and without implementing basic cyber security mechanisms can be and will be hacked relatively easily," said Langer.