Israel’s reception of world leaders last week for the World Holocaust Forum involved much more than meeting leaders at the airport with flower bouquets and laying out the red carpet. Israel’s cyber defense system was hard at work fighting hundreds of cyber-attacks on Ben-Gurion Airport and the planes of the world leaders, a Channel 12 News report said on Sunday as reported by Times of Israel.

The report said that according to officials of Israel’s Airports Authority Cyber Division, over 800 separate cyber-attacks targeted Israeli airspace while the word leaders were landing in Israel on Thursday.

Officials added that the attacks, stemming from Iran, China, North Korea, Russia and Poland were all successfully fended off. Israel was well aware of the likely possibility of cyber-attacks and security preparations for the arrival of almost 50 heads of state included preparing for the attacks.

Two weeks ago, the Knesset placed Israel’s aviation infrastructure under the protection of the National Cyber Security Authority, a department of the Prime Minister’s Office that oversees Israel’s cybersecurity.

In 2017, Israel’s National Cyber Directorate (INCD) launched the “Hercules” project to counter cyber threats to aviation, including airports, control towers, airspace control, airlines and airplane maintenance.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)