JDN

Israeli branch of Ness digital company targeted by Cyber attack

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A Palestinian youth wearing masks used by computer hackers who attacked a number of Israeli websites recently, seen on his laptop, in Jerusalem. April 08 2013. Photo by Sliman Khader/FLASH90 *** Local Caption *** îñëä àðåðéîåñ äà÷ø îñéëä

Ness has worked for over two decades to help organizations “develop and integrate the software products and digital platforms they rely on to lead their markets,” according to the company’s website. The company formed in Israel following the merger of six Israeli IT companies.
The digital solutions company has worked with the IDF, Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel Post, the Israel Airport Authority and the Hebrew University, among other companies and government bodies.
Over 150 servers in Israel and about 1,000 servers outside of Israel are being scanned by McAfee in light of the attack. The managers of the company’s India branch have reportedly begun managing the incident and have brought their insurer, AIG, into the picture.
In November, the FBI warned that Ragnar Locker ransomware has been used against an increasing list of victims since it was first observed by the FBI in April 2020. The ransomware actors first obtain access to a victim’s network and performs reconnaissance to locate network resources, backups and other sensitive files and manually deploy the ransomware and encrypt the victim’s data, according to the FBI report.
The FBI advised companies to back-up critical data offline and securely, install and regularly update anti-virus or anti-malware software, use multi-factor authentication and keep devices patched and up-to-date, among other measures.
The attack comes after a series of cyberattacks on Israeli businesses and institutions, including Israel Aerospace Industries, the Shirbit insurance company, Ben Gurion University and the Amital software company.
The National Cyber Directorate reported that it handled more than 11,000 inquiries on its 119 hotline in 2020, some 30% more than it handled in 2019. The directorate made about 5,000 requests to entities to handle vulnerabilities exposing them to attacks and was in contact with about 1,400 entities concerning attempted or successful attacks.