Jerusalem, May 3 (IANS): Israeli Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel and Director-General of the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) Gaby Portnoy on Monday urged communications companies to upgrade their cyber defence amid recent cyber attack waves against Israeli websites and networks.

According to a new initiative, Israeli communications companies will be required to prepare and implement cyber defense plans, which will for the first time include an orderly and unified working method, strengthen their defence levels and actively prepare for attacks, said a joint statement issued by the Communications Ministry and the INCD.

In the past month, attack waves aimed at creating artificial loads on Israeli websites and bringing about their downfall have increased significantly, Portnoy was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

"The communications market is the pipeline leading to the economy and the public. Therefore, a comprehensive regulation is required to raise the level of national readiness and safeguard the public interests," Hendel said.

Portnoy added that "the joint initiative will take a step forward in the level of protection and will serve as a type of air defence system that provides an additional layer of protection for the entire Israeli economy."

The plans will include protecting communications networks and combining monitoring and control mechanisms that will allow establishing an up-to-date picture of cyber protection while ensuring privacy, data integrity, and service availability, the statement added.

The required plans will also enable dealing with cyber attacks, through incident identification, inclusion, recovery, and periodic scans to identify cyber security vulnerabilities, the ministry and the INCD said.