Hackers briefly crash PM's Office, Likud websites

Avent security says Anonymous hackers successfully crash PMO site; @OPIsrael claims to have affected numerous other gov't sites.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN
Anonymous hackers logo_311 (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Anonymous hackers logo_311
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Anti-Israel hackers had succeeded in bringing down temporarily the website of the Prime Minister's Office and the website of the Likud party, the Avnet information security company said Tuesday morning.
"The [PMO's] site is suffering from an attack on its connection between the database and the web server," Avnet's Roni Becher said. "At this stage we don't know how the attack was carried out exactly, and what can be done to defend against it. Overnight, we saw dozens of attempts to hack and attack Israeli websites. Much information was released online, but most of it does not represent a real achievement, as it is old content that has not been updated," he added.
Various government websites also appear to have been a target of the Anonymous hackers, as was stated on the official @OPIsrael Twitter account. The group claimed to have brought down official sites such as that of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All the sites currently appear to be up and running.
Prior to these cyber attacks, The Avnet information security company, which set up a situation room to monitor attacks on Israeli websites, said Sunday that so far, there have been a number of significant leaks of databases from websites, but that in general, the affected websites are small, and have not invested in basic security measures.
Over the weekend and on Sunday anti-Israel hackers claimed to have broken into hundreds of Israeli Facebook accounts, and updated their Twitter account with a list of Israeli websites they said have been hacked.
On Sunday, Becher said, "It seems that these are simply quite basic attacks, that are not unusual in their complexity... and which suit amateur children."
The website of the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum has come under a "fairly massive attack," said Becher, adding that this is in line with a decision by anti-Israel hackers to strike near the start of Holocaust Memorial Day events. The website was only temporarily down.
Other major sites that have been affected by the Anonymous hackers' Israel operation include the Education Ministry,
Anonymous had announced it would strike at Israeli websites, claiming that Israel had attempted to curb Internet access for Palestinians. The attacks, Anonymous said in a video announcement released at the end of March, were an act of solidarity with the Palestinians.