Hackers target Israeli government websites

Out of 44 million hacking attempts, Steinitz says only one was successful; 'Anonymous' launched wide-scale attack named #OpIsrael.

By MICHAEL OMER-MAN, REUTERS
Anonymous 370 (photo credit: Screen capture)
Anonymous 370
(photo credit: Screen capture)
More than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israeli government web sites since Wednesday when Israel began its Gaza air strikes, the government said on Sunday.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said just one hacking attempt was successful on a site he did not want to name, but it was up and running after 10 minutes of downtime.
Late Friday night, hacker collective Anonymous launched a wide-scale attack, named #OpIsrael on hundreds of Israeli websites in protest of Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip.
The attacks ranged from prominent targets such as the Foreign Ministry to tourism companies and locksmiths.
One of the most high-profile targets of the attack was the Foreign Ministry’s international development program, Mashav. In an announcement on Twitter, Anonymous claimed to have tampered with the website’s internal database.
The mass hacking attack follows a press release put out by the collective on Wednesday, in which it said: “For far too long, Anonymous has stood by with the rest of the world and watched in despair the barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people in the so called ‘Occupied Territories’ by the Israel Defense Forces."
Tweets announcing websites that it targeted were peppered with hashtags #OpIsrael and #GazaUnderAttack.
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A statement published Friday stated: “The reasons for Anonymous intervention through #OpIsrael should be abundantly clear: What is happening in Palestine is oppression. They have no navy, no army, or air force. There is no war in Gaza.”
The collective also attempted to preempt any allegations of anti-Semitism, writing: “Anonymous has not used any anti-Semitic language during our campaign.
Nor have we vocalized any support for Palestinian military operations or resistance groups.”
The attack’s goals, the statement continued, was to “protect the rights of the Palestinian people.”
While a list posted online of the operation’s targets included nearly 700 websites, most of them were subdomains of the same site and a random sampling proved that a number of the sites listed were still online and appeared untampered with.
Among the other targets were the websites of the Kadima Party, Bank of Jerusalem, a jeep tour company, a locksmith company, allbiz.co.il, fashion accessory companies and even a blog.
Most of the sites were simply unavailable but others displayed pro-Palestinian images and messages.
One site, whose front page was replaced with an image of a man wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh, displayed a message reading: “This attack is in response to the Injustice against the Palestinian people.”
Anonymous also claimed to have taken down the Tel Aviv Municipality’s website, which along with its normal functions is also providing residents with directions to bomb shelters. The municipality’s website was accessible at the time of this report and did not appear to have been tampered with.
Typically, there are a few hundred hacking attempts a day on Israeli sites, the ministry said.
Defense-related sites and those of Israel's prime minister, president and Foreign Ministry have been targeted.
A ministry spokesman said while the attacks have come from around the world, most have been from Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"The ministry's computer division will continue to block the millions of cyber attacks," Steinitz said. "We are enjoying the fruits of our investment in recent years in developing computerized defense systems."