Recent attacks of Hamas on Israel have shown the world how crucial it is to have the highest level of readiness to face any attack. The diversionary tactics besides multi dimensional attack approach that have proved their effectiveness & impact in real world are very similar in the nature and style of attacks happening in the cyber & digital world. This article attempts to find the similarities in both the cases.
Hamas attack on Israel has proved again that no matter how big or powerful you are, a small loophole or mistake is enough to bring an elephant down to its knee. Yes, Israel will retaliate on a massive scale but the damage has already been done. A big dent is already made to Israel’s reputation. World is stunned and still in a hangover to come into terms with the massacre that happened on 7th October. A multi pronged attack approach was adopted by Hamas and what not they have applied. Starting from paragliding attack to drone attack to ground hunting to aerial attack to massive level of rocket/mortar attacks. The so called unbeatable Israeli defence is brought almost to a halt. People still finding answers for the silence of iron dome anti missile system and more appropriately the ineffectiveness of the unstoppable defence system.
What Are Similar Here For Corporate or National Cyber Security Systems?
Hence, the same applies for Corporate and any national IT/Cyber Security system also. You have probably installed so called the best security systems/solutions available in industry or you might have outsourced best managed security services available in market, but that never offers you the luxury to be in a relaxed state. 24×7 monitoring, most effective alarming system for detecting any possible attack or to identify any unnatural behaviour and proactive & pre-emptive action to mitigate an attack is the need of the hour. Most companies believe that they have the highest grade of security systems in place, which assures them the safety & security at best. But please don’t be under such an impression/notion.
Now let’s delve little deeper to understand the Hamas attack on Israel and the tactics followed by Hamas in this entire saga. And believe me the same can be applied or being applied by hackers as a reference attack model. First question comes today in everyone’s mind, how Israel couldn’t evaluate Hamas’s planning or strategy, though Hamas is identified as one of Israel’s biggest frontline enemies. The diversionary tactics Hamas adopted here fooled Israel by all measurements. Hamas didn’t make any mistake to alert Israel in last two years. Small scale activities/incidents organized intentionally by Hamas in last two years fell well short in front of Israel’s massive technologically advanced defence & security systems. So, Israel started to be bit relaxed and couldn’t guess the massive planning behind this diversionary tactics. Hamas prepared themselves within this period and gathered all possible level of intelligence, which could be used against Israel. Ultimately on 7th October Hamas showed the World & Israel their actual intention and didn’t give a single opportunity to Israel to defend before the massacre took place. And this same model of attack is used by hackers today at various cyber attacks reported globally.
Let’s discuss the second most prominent question. How Israel’s most effective anti missile system ‘Iron Dome’ couldn’t resist the massive level of rocket attacks by Hamas? International arms & ammunition experts and many security experts claim that ‘Iron Dome’ is not capable of resisting rocket/missile attacks 100% but strong enough to execute the function 70% to 80% by & large. But very surprisingly in the initial hours of rocket attacks from Hamas, ‘Iron Dome’ radar couldn’t detect the attacks. There are multiple opinions floating to justify this inactivity. But is there any possibility that for first few hours Hamas hackers blocked the function of ‘Iron Dome’? I am not sure about that but cannot rule out also the possibility at the age of smart hacking. In nutshell, the security landscape is very dynamic and hackers are becoming smarter & smarter. You need to equip yourself with right security product/solution/service to mitigate advanced level attacks proactively.
Conclusion
Hamas decided to execute by exploiting one final crack in the Israeli fort. Hamas had clearly concluded Israel security system, which is designed to detect small groups of terrorists but not a military scale assault by land, sea and air. And that thousands terrorists and thousands of rockets took entire Israel into a standstill. Hamas appeared to be literally overwhelmed, even played with Israeli defence, stretching them beyond their limit and rendering them virtually ineffective for crucial four hours. But still a piece is missing. How could all these happen so easily even when such advanced defence & security system in place? Two things we know for sure at this stage, one, Israel’s hard earned reputation for being an intelligence power will never be the same again and second, probably this could be the end of Gaza, Hamas and Hamas supporters. I have just shared my personal views and opinions based on the Hamas’s attack model and these are purely my own understanding relating to today’s smart world of hacking. This same approach, industry is witnessing today in Cyber attacks being reported globally. You finally may come out of this attack using your best possible resources but the damage is already done. That impact may last for a long time. Better get prepared to face the worst but at the same time strengthen your defence at best possible level.
