But despite Israel’s thriving tech sector and vaunted security capabilities, experts say its laws are outdated and that Netanyahu’s government hasn’t made cyber threats a priority. Suspicion fell on Russian operatives, now infamous for their alleged cyber meddling in America’s 2016 presidential race and the Brexit referendum. Boaz Dolev, the CEO of ClearSky, a cyber security firm, said Iranian operatives have honed their phone-hacking skills over the past five years and targeted nearly all of Israel’s senior army officials. But critics say the government has failed to take necessary precautions, even as concern over cyber meddling in elections has grown in recent years. In its only public step so far, the elections panel issued a decree March 1 banning anonymous election ads from social media platforms in Israel.

Source: Washington Post April 04, 2019 06:20 UTC