Several months ago, the C4i Directorate, the IDF's elite technological unit, identified attempted Iranian cyberattacks on the army's supply chain – a highly-sensitive link that is vital in peacetime and critical in wartime.
The supply chain connects the IDF to the civilian services from which it receives gas, food, and other crucial supplies. Impairing it could also allow a hostile entity to gather extremely valuable information about specific companies, facilities, and modes of operation the IDF works with.
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Soldiers from the Cyber Defense Unit, which operates as part of C4i, identified the attack and for several days carried out a covert operation intended to expose the attackers and foil their plan.
The Cyber Defense Unit was established four years ago. It is based out of an unmarked and unassuming civilian office building in the heart of Tel Aviv.
It is responsible for the telecommunications of internal IDF networks and its mission is to ensure the army can operate freely in war and peacetime as it fully utilizes Israel's vast technological advantages in the digital sphere.
The IDF views the Cyber Defense Unit and others like it as a fighting outfit for all intents and purposes. The Cyber Defense Unit consists of "red teams" that consistently target the army's various systems to ensure they are protected and immune to external attacks. The unit is also involved in formulating the technological demands of other branches. Fighter jets and submarines, for example, are manufactured abroad; it is imperative that no one plants a bug in their systems in the manufacturing stage and that they are impenetrable to cyberattack.
"We are everywhere. From the fiber optic to the satellite, from the support base to the most forward operating soldier," said Col. R, who commands the Code, Cipher, and Security Unit of the C4i Directorate.
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