JERUSALEM, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) --The Israeli government on Tuesday announced to allocate 10 million new shekels (about 2.7 million U.S. dollars) to support essential industrial factories to improve defense against cyber attacks.
The announcement was made by the Israel National Cyber Directorate of the Prime Minister's Office.
One of the dangers facing sensitive industrial plants is cyber attack that could disrupt their operations. In the case of factories dealing with hazardous materials, such attack could have dangerous environmental and security consequences.
Israel has not yet reported a successful attack directed at its industrial infrastructures, but there are fears of such attacks, mainly by hostile elements, including enemy states.
The focus of the program is to ensure the continuity of economic functioning in times of emergency, as it emphasizes the role of cyber defense as a central element in dealing with emergency scenarios.
An essential enterprise, under Israeli law, is one that operates for the purposes such as state protection, public security, and maintenance of essential services, needs of the economy and supply or services required by the public or for export.
The plan also includes factories that provide existential services to civilians in times of war or mass disaster, such as water supply, food, electricity, hospitalization, health, sanitation, communication and postal services.
These organizations are entitled to financial support, including 50 percent of risk survey costs and 40 percent of the cost of equipping and deploying cyber protection systems and services.
The total assistance for a single organization will reach up to 225,000 new shekels (about 62,800 dollars).
The plan is led by Israel National Cyber Directorate, the Investment Authority at the Ministry of Economy, National Emergency Authority at the Ministry of Defense, and the Budget Department at the Ministry of Finance.
