The Israel Police handled 8,377 cases of cyberattacks against Israeli targets over the course of 2020, Israel Hayom has discovered.
According to data obtained by this newspaper, the Lahav 433 Major Crimes Unit's cyber defense unit, considered one of the police's elite units, is staffed by only 50 police officers and another 25 national service youths and IDF soldiers.
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In addition to the police's main cyber unit, each district has its own cybercrime squad that investigates simpler cases.
A large part of the cybercrimes the police have handled this past year entail identity theft and digital forgeries of documents. A total of 2,093 cases were opened his year involving perpetrators suspected of stealing someone's identity to perpetrate fraud, and another 2,795 cases were opened to investigate digital forgeries.
One of the most common cybercrimes worldwide is the theft of credit cards and other forms of electronic payment, but in Israel only 350 such cases were opened this year.
Attorney Saar Gershoni, an expert in laws about online privacy, said in response to the data presented above that "Naturally, we are far from seeing the full picture of the resources and effort the police are putting into cybercrime However, I think that the fact that the cyber unit includes only a few dozen police officers is far from satisfactory."
According to Gershoni, "The police need to understand that even in the near future, cybercrime challenges will become more complex. For example, I'm sorry to say I think that the number of cases opened about online fraud, identity theft, and theft of credit/debit cards will be sky-high in 2021, and the police will have to take increasingly sophisticated action."
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