Iran tried to disrupt the Home Front Command's warning system by means of a cyberattack, Israel Hayom reported Thursday morning.
The incident, which occurred more than a year ago and was thwarted by the IDF's cyber defense battalion, was revealed in an interview by the paper with Brigadier General Noam Sha'ar, who until recently served as head of the IDF's cyber defense battalion.
This attack was uncovered after tracking an Iranian group active in the cyber world. It turned out that the group was involved in actions against several systems in Israel, including the discovery and warning system.
It is one of dozens of groups operated by the Iranians as part of their cyber network, which is run by the Revolutionary Guards with an annual budget estimated at more than $1 billion.
In his interview, Brig. Gen. Sha'ar noted that Iran is exerting considerable effort in constant cyberattacks on military infrastructure and equipment. In the past year alone, the defense battalion thwarted 130 such attacks, most of which were Iran’s doing.
"We see constant Iranian activity directed at the Israeli sphere," said Sha'ar. "This activity is usually directed at the more exposed areas of the IDF, and we are operating in a variety of ways and methods to prevent damage to our networks."
Another significant attack thwarted by the cyber defense team was one against the observation system of the Central Command deployed throughout Judea and Samaria. This attack, behind which the Hamas organization stood, also had significant potential: If it succeeded, the attackers could have prevented the gathering of information, obstructed the prevention of attacks, or used the system to monitor IDF operations and harm them.