Blogger claims to uncover identity of 'Saudi' hacker
By JPOST.COM STAFF
LAST UPDATED: 01/06/2012 21:37
Amir Fedida says in blog that the hacker is in fact a Mexican resident of UAE origin; in latest move hacker spreads Trojan horse malware; file contains no new information, can damage computers than run it.
Illustrative photo Photo: Thinkstock/Imagebank
Amir Fedida, an Israeli blogger, claimed Friday to have cracked
the identity of the "Saudi hacker," Channel 10 News reported Friday
evening. The hacker released this week the information of thousands of Israeli credit cards, causing a media storm.
According to Fedida, contrary to wide-spread belief that
the hacker is Saudi, his research actually reveals that the hacker is
Omar Habib, a youth of UAE origin, who lives in Mexico.
RELATED:
Hackers post 1000s of Israeli credit card numbers
According
to the report, Fedida claimed in his blog that Habib made many
mistakes, allowing him to trace him - the biggest mistake being that
he communicated with Israeli media by email, congratulating himself on
his "achievements." Fedida also found from his investigation that the
hacker is a pro-Palestinian whose interests include hacking.
The hacker, going by the username "0xOmar" from "group-xp", disseminated a third file Friday, containing Trojan horse malware.
The
file reportedly contains no new information and can damage computers
that run it. Victims of the scandal Bank Leumi, CAL and Isracard, warned
their customers against downloading the file.
On Thursday the hacker released almost 11,000 new Israeli credit card numbers and personal contact details, following the
publication of around 15,000 numbers earlier this week.
Credit
card companies were examining the latest list and were prepared to cancel
any affected cards for phone or internet use, as well as issue new
cards.
The
new file that has been released contains full details of credit cards,
including expiry date and CVVs (the three digits on the back of the
card), full names, addresses, and telephone numbers, according to a
Globes report. The file also contains e-mail addresses and passwords.
Additionally, e-mail account passwords have been verified as genuine,
allowing anyone with the information to break into inboxes without
difficulty, according to the report.
The hacker, from "group-xp" released a
statement indicating that he will release the rest of the database which
contains a further 60,000 credit cards. He also threatened to release other sensitive information, such as "data
I have downloaded from Israeli military contractor companies... I'm thinking to start doing it from an Israeli company which creates jammers and eavesdropping devices."
The message, posted on the 'uncensored text hosting' website Pastebin,
contained numerous anti-Israel and anti-Semitic references. The hacker
repeatedly referred to the "Zionist lobby" and the "Jewish lobby"
throughout the post.
The Bank of Israel on Tuesday reassured customers that they would not bear responsibility for fraudulent use of their cards.
Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report