Israel’s national cyber authority warns users to avoid links to the websites disrupted on Thursday, May 21, by hostile hackers. Their home pages were replaced with images of Tel Aviv under bombardment and two messages: “The countdown has begun for the end of Israel” and “Be ready for a big surprise.” The attack was timed for Al Qods day, on which Iran marks the anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel.
The Checkpoint data security company has pinpointed eight separate hacking sources in Turkey, North Africa and the Gaza Strip, though not so far Iran itself. The targeted websites are all located on the same cloud. A company official says the scale of the attack is not broad, although many sites were hit and advised their owners to refrain from activating cameras. Users of WordPress received warnings of a breach and assured that every effort was being made to repair it speedily in collaboration with the government’s cyber authority. This is a serious event and is being dealt with urgently.
This is the second hostile cyberattack directed against Israel this week. After Iran attempted to disrupt Israel’s rural water distribution system earlier this month – an attempt that was thwarted before it caused serious damage – Israel reportedly retaliated by throwing into havoc the traffic of a major Iranian port on the Strait of Hormuz by shutting down its computers.
