Israel came under attack by an unidentified collective of hackers who managed to shut down traffic on the busy Carmel Tunnels toll road in Haifa, the country's third-largest city. The latest cyber-attack on the Carmel Tunnel which happened on Sept 8 and 9 was first reported as a traffic control system malfunction. Reports say this cyber-attack was similar to "OpIsrael" in April in which global hacker community said they would launch a mass attack on Israel protesting against it policies towards Palestine.

Reports say, Israeli authorities already have classified information about the cyber-attacks and that, according to an AP report in The Atlantic explains the recent speech by the country's military chief Lt. Gen Benny Gantz, who warned of possible escalations of such attacks in the future. This includes "a cyber-attack on Web sites which provide daily services to the citizens of Israel. Traffic lights could stop working, the banks could be shut down," he said.

However, reports said, the attack in September did not resemble a very sophisticated effort. It has led experts to believe that the attack on Carmel Tunnels may not be connected to any government cyber-attack agencies like the one working in China or Iran.

Israel is a popular target for cyber attackers. According to The Atlantic, the country's highly secretive high-tech military unit has made the country a leader in cyber security, with even the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identifying cyber security as a key priority of the government.

Thanks to its cyber-security network, attacks in the past have not had any major impact on the country. The September attack, however, unlike in the past, cost the Israelis severe damage to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Israeli's, meanwhile, accordingly to The Atlantic; too has a notorious record on conducting cyber-attack on other countries. For instance, documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed, the country's intelligence agency may have been instrumental in a 2012 hack into the communication network of former French president Nicholas Sarkozy.