In the midst of the escalating clashes between Palestine and Israel, a series of cyberattacks and hacking incidents have emerged, with the Israeli state finding itself at the forefront of a second battle, to be fought on the digital sphere.
Hackers targeted several Israeli websites and applications, two of which were The Jerusalem Post news service and the RedAlert application.
The Jerusalem Post experienced a series of cyberattacks that began in the morning following Hamas’ attack.
“The Jerusalem Post is currently experiencing downtime due to a series of cyberattacks initiated against us since yesterday morning,” posted on their official X account.
? The Jerusalem Post is currently experiencing downtime due to a series of cyberattacks initiated against us since yesterday morning.
We are actively addressing the situation and will be back soon, continuing to serve as your top source of information on Operation Swords of… pic.twitter.com/896sWH07kH
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) October 9, 2023
Meanwhile, AnonGhost, a pro-Palestinian hacktivist group, targeted on Sunday 8 an API flaw in the RedAlert application, which is employed in Israel to send Israeli citizens real-time rocket alerts during times of conflicts and war.
In addition, according to Falcon Feedsio’s account on X, hacktivist group Moroccan Black Cyber Army also participated in the virtual attacks, attempting to hack Israel’s largest public transportation company.
After facing a DDoS attack from the hacktivist group Moroccan Black Cyber Army, Israel’s largest public transportation company, Egged, has enabled a geo-lock.#Cti #Threatintel #IsraelPalestineConflict pic.twitter.com/4Uc2ti3E1N
— FalconFeedsio (@FalconFeedsio) October 8, 2023
Group IB, a global cybersecurity leader dedicated to detecting, preventing, and investigating cyberattacks, took to X to reveal the hacking incident.
“In their exploit, they successfully intercepted requests, exposed vulnerable servers and APIs, and employed Python scripts to send spam messages to some users of the app,” posted on Group-IB Global X’s account.
On Sunday, #AnonGhost, a well-known #hacktivist group, exploited an API vulnerability in the #RedAlert app, that provides real-time rocket alerts for Israelis. In their exploit, they successfully intercepted requests, exposed vulnerable servers and APIs, and employed Python… pic.twitter.com/CZj2pAkS07
— Group-IB Threat Intelligence (@GroupIB_TI) October 9, 2023
AnonGhost also dispatched a fake threat of nuclear attack and messages saying, “death to Israel,” according to the same source.
The Group-IB Threat Intelligence system detected on Sunday 8 new hacktivist activity. The digital battle has been targeting several government websites and IT systems amid the escalation between the two states.
“Threat actor groups are entering the fray and launching attacks on government websites and IT systems amid the escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rest assured, we will continue to monitor this activity and provide any relevant updates,” according to their post on X.
Group-IB’s Threat Intelligence automatically detects new #hacktivist activity, and we’ve seen that threat actor groups are entering the fray and launching attacks on government websites and IT systems amid the escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rest assured, we will… pic.twitter.com/uZeqAOKjoo
— Group-IB Threat Intelligence (@GroupIB_TI) October 8, 2023
In response to the support of Israel for Ukraine in 2022, Killnet, a Kremlin-affiliated Russian hacker group, initiated a cyberattack against the Israeli government. The hacktivist group took it to Telegram to claim responsibility for this digital battle.
“Government of Israel, you are to blame for this bloodshed,” Killnet said. “Back in 2022, you supported the terrorist regime of Ukraine. You betrayed Russia. Today Killnet officially informs you about it! All Israeli government systems will be subject to our attacks!” according to the Cyberdaily website.
Killnet clarified in a later post on Telegram that this digital battle stems from their opposition to the Israeli regime and not the people, according to the same source.
“If we oppose the government of Israel, this does not mean that we are going against ordinary citizens of this country,” Killnet said in a later Telegram post. “The Israeli regime sold itself to NATO, the same main terrorist, with the slogan of PEACE and DEFENSE!” said the Cyberdaily website.
The same source added, “The atrocities that Hamas or Israel commit against civilians are terrible!” the post went on to say. “We exclude the possibility of attacking the critical infrastructure of both sides! Our goal is the pro-NATO government of Israel (believe me, there are not many of them left anymore)!”
Another Russian hacktivist group known under the name of Anonymous Sudan, is also involved in this battle. Cyberdaily reported that the cyberattack on The Jerusalem Post website was conducted by Anonymous Sudan.
Several cases of cyberattacks have been recorded since the tension between Israel and Palestine escalated, targeting several Israeli websites such as Israel’s patent search portal and Tel Aviv’s medical center website, according to Falcon Feedsio’s account on X.
On the other hand, a pro-Israeli hacktivist group targeted the Hamas website.
“Indian Cyber Force has its sights set on Hamas’s official portal,” according to Falcon Feedsio.
Following a massive surprise assault from Gaza on October 7, Israel declared war on the militant group on Sunday. So far, the death toll in the conflict exceeded 1,000, with around 700 among Hebrew ranks, making it the deadliest-ever attack on Israeli territory.
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