Half of Jewish Israelis willing to let state monitor emails to combat cyber attacks

The study shows that 53 percent of those questioned would agree to government monitoring of their email account and social media activity; 37 percent support government oversight of social media sites, and 28 percent are willing to see certain sites blocked.
 

Eighty-seven percent of the respondents said they would expect the government to respond to a major cyber attack with a counterattack, while 13 percent went so far as to say they would want the government to respond to a cyber attack with missiles or airstrikes that would destroy the enemy’s resources.
 

Regarding biometric identification, 58 percent of the respondents said they would be willing to adopt biometric standards like biometric passports, use of facial features, handprints, fingerprints, etc., if this would help prevent a cyber attack.
 

The public was also concerned about a possible cyber attack: 65 percent of those questioned recognized that a cyber attack could do critical damage to traffic and water systems, while 50 percent believed a cyber attack could cause physical harm to the civilian population.
 

Nearly 85 percent of the respondents believed that government websites and military installations would be the primary targets of such attacks.
 

The study was conducted among 470 people by Prof. Daphna Canetti, Prof. Michael Gross and Dr. Dana Vashdi of the University of Haifa’s School of Political Science.
 

“People aren’t really capable of relating seriously to the damage of a cyber attack,” said Canetti. She added that although it sounded like science fiction, inserting a USB flash drive could have the same result as launching a plane.
 

One of the things the public didn’t realize, she noted, was exactly what kind of damage can be done by a cyber attack. “There are citizens here who are vulnerable and there is a potential for injury – for example, a group with the right capabilities can succeed in disconnecting the electricity in a hospital in a neonatal unit.” She said the risk is not just to information but to actual human lives. “What’s being targeted are vital infrastructures, and citizens could be harmed.”
 

Canetti said the study was conducted a few days before the April cyber attack launched on Israel by the group Anonymous, as well as afterward. “Every year, Anonymous threatens an attack,” she said. “What we tried was to determine what the public was thinking and feeling, and if it impacted on their functioning.”
 

She said that after the attack – which turned out to have nearly no impact – the respondents were a lot calmer. They were also more open to giving up some of their privacy, even though it would erode their civil liberties.