 [Ynet] Anonymous-affiliated hacker collective plans to celebrate anniversary of first anti-Israel operation with cyber-attacks on Israeli ministries and organizations.
| Oooooh -- chew toys for white hats! Go got 'em, Israel! |
A number of pro-Paleostinian hacker collectives, united under the Anonymous banner, plan to execute a wide-ranging cyber-attack on Israel.
Called #OpIsrael
| Golly. An official hashtag thingy. How... impressive. |
by its promoters, the operation directs the massive network of hackers
| Script kiddies, anyway. Hackers have actual skillz. |
to focus on Israeli institutions and organizations in their sabotage efforts, for the second year in a row.
"On April 7, 2014, we call upon our brothers and sisters to hack, deface, hijack, database leak, admin takeover, and DNS terminate the Israeli Cyberspace by any means necessary," the hackers threatened.
| More of an announcement, or a wannabe call to arms, than an actual threat. They're doing their best, bless their undersized little hearts. |
But there was no dramatic rise in cyber-attacks over the weekend, even though the hacker collective was bragging and boasting of their accomplishment on Twitter.
| You have to admit, dear Rantburg Reader, that is simply too cute for words. I mean, they think themselves scary, those little keyboard jihadis! |
The hacker groups leading the charge on #OpIsrael's birthday have members in the Paleostinian Authority, Syria, Iran, India, Malaysia, and Jordan.
| I vote for sudden, targetted computer meltdowns in those countries, so it is probably fortunate nobody listens to me. |
The cyber-threat will most likely focus on "denial of service" attacks -- in which a website is inundated with thousands of requests until it crashes. The targets are primarily financial institutions like banks and credit card companies, but academic institutions and government ministries are also under threat.
Last year, the first #OpIsrael was accompanied by much media fanfare and the hackers proudly boasted of their achievements -- though, in reality, very little damage was caused.
| See? Adorable. Perhaps if they study very, very hard, they'll one day work their way up to slightly annoying. |
Several hundred small sites were vandalized to carry anti-Israel messaging, and the websites of government ministries experienced slow-downs and were periodically inaccessible. Small amounts of sensitive personal data -- some of it outdated -- were leaked on the web.
The hacker collective is expected to again focus on governmental bodies and organizations, as opposed to home users, but personal users will likely notice slow-downs on specific sites. The hackers may also try to spread viruses through Facebook and email.
In the worst case scenario, sensitive data like personal details, passwords, and credit card information may be compromised. Still, experts say there is no need to take special precautionary measures like unplugging the home internet connection.
| I don't recall if they tried their wiles on Rantburg last year, but perhaps this year's effort will be more memorable. On the other hand, the Gaza flotilla had diminishing returns after the first year. |
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