Cyberattack On Israeli Sites: ‘Be Ready For a Big Surprise’
Following Iran’s port attack blamed on Israel, some 300 sites hacked on Jerusalem Day with a video on their homepage of Tel Aviv burning
About 300 Israeli websites were targeted Thursday morning in a cyberattack, including political groups, municipalities, organizations, business firms, and even individuals. Israel National Cyber Directorate instructed internet users, who come across attacked sites, to avoid clicking on any links.
The attack, which appears on Jerusalem Day celebrations, was massive but ‘surface-level’, said National Cyber Directorate: “An initial investigation of the incident involved a surface-level attack on the websites of private entities in Israel, which were done through a single company that hosts all the sites [attacked].”
The source of the attack was linked to an activist group with ties to Gaza Strip, Turkey, and North Africa, but with no sign of ties to Iran. The video ends with a logo of a group called “Hackers of Savior,” which has a Facebook page created on April 11, indicating that the attack was planned since last month.
The affected websites have found video appeared on homepages features Israeli cities being bombed and a message threatening “the countdown to Israel’s destruction has begun.” It comes after reports emerged this week blaming Israel for a cyberattack on Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port that caused massive backups on waterways and roads leading to the facility.
Among the websites that were targeted are various municipalities, United Hatzalah (a volunteer-based emergency medical services organization), the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) Authority, several Israeli-based NGOs, the official site of Meretz party leader, Nitzan Horowitz, food chains, including Coffix and Nafis as well as the site of Israel’s most popular espresso and coffee chain, Aroma.
In addition, a site of international unit aimed at fighting coronavirus at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem has also been targeted.
Cyber company Check Point put the number of affected websites at an estimated 300.
Read more about: cyber attacks, Jerusalem Day
