Israel responds to cyberattack with aerial bombardment | Hacker News Reader

Israel responds to cyberattack with aerial bombardment

zdnet.com

13 pointsAlexkacs4 comments

"Cyberattack" is too broad a terms to form a reasoned opinion about this. If the attack was an attempt to take over armed drones, or disable the Iron dome, or something of that sort, then it really should be thought of as an attempt at a kinetic attack. If it was a more "traditional" cyber attack then this would be a disproportionate escalation that sets the stage for cyber conflicts to escalate to real wars with real bombs.

Of course, in this particular case, it is hard to call Isreal's attack much of an escalation, as they are already lobbing bombs at each other. I would much more concerned if Isreal bombed, say, Iran for a cyber attack, as that would represent a very real kinetic escalation.

Couldn't have anything to do with the 300+ rockets fired at Isreal yesterday...

EDIT: Looks like its more than 600 rockets now.

FTA:

> The "bomb-back" response took place on Saturday when Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched an air-strike against a building in the Gaza Strip they claimed it housed Hamas cyber operatives, which had been engaging in a cyber-attack against Israel's "cyberspace."

> After dealing with the cyber dimension, the Air Force dealt with it in the physical dimension," said IDF spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manlis. "At this point in time, Hamas has no cyber operational capabilities."

Pretty much the entire article is about how this particular bombing was a response to the cyberattack in particular (and the implications as another milestone of cyber-warfare becoming a first-class part of global warfare).

I think the article is very naive in building any sort of narrative on Israel's statements. Israel is simply bombing whatever they want (Hamas targets, civilians, hospitals, news agencies) and justifying it as a response to this or that threat or attack. What proof do we have of what they're saying? None whatsoever. When would the cyber attack have taken place, what was the target, how was it performed? No details. Was it a high tech operation or just someone doing a port scan on a random pc in Israel?

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