Israel Faces Escalating Cyberwar 200
New submitter 9re9 writes "The NY Times describes what may be the beginning of an actual cyberwar between a pro-Palestinian group and Israeli companies, specifically El Al and the Tel Aviv stock exchange. From the article: 'A hacker identifying himself as oxOmar, already notorious for posting the details of more than 20,000 Israeli credit cards, sent an overnight warning to Israel's Ynet news outlet that a group of pro-Palestinian cyberattackers called Nightmare planned to bring down the sites in the morning.' Though the article is skimpy on technical details, the group appears to have engaged merely in a DDOS attack. Hamas praised the attack as opening 'a new resistance front against Israel.' Is this the first acknowledged cyberwar?"
Bringing down the websites (Score:5, Informative)
Old news: (Score:5, Informative)
This has been going back and forth on pastebin.com for some time. The usual posting of claims and counterclaims. Lots of posting of alleged Israeli/Arab credit cards and facebook accounts, etc.
It's only now hit the media due to the Tel Aviv stock exchange being a target.
They've done quite a bit of attacking themselves (Score:5, Informative)
Israel has a very developed a very advanced cyberwarfare infrastructure [reuters.com], capable of both defensive and offensive attacks. And it's widely believed that they're the ones behind Stuxnet and other attempts at sabotaging Iran's nuclear program.
And that's just what they do in cyberspace. You get a LOT worse treatment [huffingtonpost.com] from them if you happen to be an Iranian nuclear scientist.
Rest assured that Israel dishes it out at least as well as they get it. They're hardly innocent babes in the woods.
Re:So, how long until we see an attempt.... (Score:5, Informative)
Well, FWIW, the Department of Defense already requires IT-2 and IT-1 certification for anyone accessing their bits. IT-1 is the equivalent to Top Secret, in that it requires an investigation of the past 10 years of your life plus your current credit rating, a criminal records check dating back to the dawn of time, etc. Be thoroughly prepared to discuss in detail any breaks in your employment, any divorces you may have had, and a whole cornucopia of little details similar to that.
In other words, trust me - it's already here, and has been for some time.
(Disclosure - I have an IT-1 clearance from a previous job back in 2006. A colonoscopy would have been less invasive.)
Re:"Cyberwar" (Score:2, Informative)
Unfortunately for oxOmar (Score:5, Informative)
Seems to me the likely way for the Israelis to handle a threat like this is to track down the attackers in meatspace, and kill them.
Re:If you're gonna threaten your neighbours... (Score:2, Informative)
while oppressing and condemning a minority within your population (the Palestinians)
If by "Palestinians" you mean Israeli Arabs, well, these are probably much better off living in Israel rather than in the neighbouring countries. In Israel, they have at least some political power (proportional to their votes).
Re:They've done quite a bit of attacking themselve (Score:5, Informative)
But we're evolved enough now to believe in a kinder gentler politically correct warfare that extends for decades, kills millions, an improvrishes many more.
Re:"Cyberwar" (Score:4, Informative)
The English dictionary is a product of the English language, not the other way around.
Re:It could be if.... (Score:5, Informative)
nuclear weapons enrichment program, whose sole end purpose is the creation of WMDs
Now this is just parroting bullshit western propaganda. Can you please finally get your head out of your arse? No fucking proof they are creating weapons grade fissile material or even want to do that, while Israel [gag, puke] threatens with nukes it really has.
is just like attacking a desalination plant, whose end purpose is clean water
Attacking desalinization plant is worse. That's actually mass destruction.
Israeli Hackers already retaliating (Score:2, Informative)
Israeli hackers took down the Saudi Arabian exchange website, and have also been leaking Facebook, Email, and CC information of Saudi citizens. Follow
Hannibal's posts on pastebin:
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