The Israeli government introduced a revised version of a draft bill for Cyber Defense and the National Cyber Directorate. The move comes just a few weeks after the government introduced the bill’s previous version which would have authorized the National Cyber Directorate (NCD) to instruct an organization how it should prepare for cyberattacks, provided the NCD is convinced that the organization engages in essential activities, it suffers a critical security vulnerability that it does not address, and a cyber-attack against the organization would severely harm the public interest.

The revised bill would require that the NCD obtain a court order authorizing it to instruct organizations to carry out acts on the organizations’ computer systems. The court order would be obtainable only after the NCD has liaised with the organization, explained the need and the rationale for the acts sought, and gave the organization a reasonable opportunity to address the cyber-attack in question by itself.

The new draft bill would be in effect as a provisional measure for two years and would authorize the Prime Minister and the head of the NCD to specify the types and categories of covered entities that are subject to the law, without the need for parliamentary approval.

CLICK HERE to read the new draft bill on Cyber Defense and National Cyber Directorate (Powers for Reinforcing Cyber Defense) (Provisional Measure), 5781-2021 (in Hebrew).