Poll: Israelis Believe They’re Safe From Major Cyberattack

British Researcher, Kill Switch, Malware, Computers, Worldwide
(Reuters/Kacper Pempel/Illustration)

Israelis have great faith in the ability of the country’s security services to defend it from a hacking cyberattack – with 73 percent saying that the country was ready for a major cyber incident, the highest percentage of any country’s citizens. The findings were from a poll by the Pew Institute, which surveyed residents of 26 countries on their readiness to deal with a cyberattack.

In second place in terms of preparedness was Russia, where 67 percent of residents felt their country could successfully deal with a cyberattack. In the U.S., only 53 percent of residents said the country was ready, while 43 percent said they did not believe it was.

With that, Israelis by and large expected to be the targets of a cyberattack. Earlier this week, the Shin Bet security service said that the Israeli elections in April were likely to be the target of cyber-intervention by a foreign country, and 62 percent of Israelis said they expected such an attempt. Twenty-two percent said they had “strong expectations” that such an attack would take place. Sixty-seven percent said that they expected an attack on Israeli infrastructure, including the electrical grid, while 59 percent said a “critical database” would be attacked.

According to the poll, nearly 80 percent of Americans believe that a foreign power is likely to interfere with elections. Of those, 87 percent were Democrats, and 66 percent, Republicans.

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