The chairman of the Internal Security Committee, MK Meirav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid), submitted a bill banning the temporary publication of cyber attacks. The bill stipulates that a person will not publish about a cyber attack from the time the attack occurs until 30 days have elapsed from the time the initial report is sent.
The explanatory memorandum to the proposal states that “in recent years there has been dramatic inflation in cyber attacks around the world and in Israel in particular, partly due to accelerated digitization sponsored by the Corona, remote work – increasing corporate vulnerability, crypto as a means of payment, various cyber attacks on Israel, including cyber attacks by Islamic elements “And so on.”
According to the bidder, “Cyber incidents are motivated by two main motivations: a mental event that aims to create chaos and media echo, or an event that aims to ransom money. Attackers typically use one of the three leverages: “In order to create civil or regulatory legal action and damage to reputation, and to publish the information in public in order to create chaos and a sense of insecurity.”
It was further stated in the explanatory memorandum that the main threat tool of the initiators of the cyber events is the media. Without media publications, the attackers fail to create the chaos effect and cause a real threat.
“In order to thwart this major measure, the bill proposes to regulate the manner in which cyberattacks against organizations are handled and the reporting and advertising mechanism about them. This, among other things, by establishing a temporary publication ban on cyberattacks.”
The proposal establishes mechanisms that include an appeal to the Magistrates’ Court, when there is a need to extend the length of time during which publication is prohibited. It is also proposed to impose prison sentences for violating this law.