The Gaza situation isn’t just a physical war. Anonymous has declared cyber war on Israel, but the Israeli government says several of its websites were already hit by 44 million cyber attacks since the onset of the Gaza war.
Earlier this week, Israel announced that it had faced more than 44 million cyber attacks since the beginning of its attacks in Gaza. But despite having hackers constantly attempting to disrupt operations online, Israeli government officials say they haven’t caused much damage. In the meanwhile, Anonymous has declared cyber war on Israel for its “barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment”.
The cyber attacks on Israeli websites are a sign that nations should start investing serious funds in online security systems. With Anonymous growing stronger and stronger by day, governments’ systems are at a constant risk of being hit and for a country at war, any disruption of its activities is a liability.
“We are reaping the fruits on the investment in recent years in the development of computerized defense systems, but we have a lot of work in store for us” said Israeli Finance Minister Dr. Yuval Steinitz. According to officials, the 44 million cyber attacks were directed towards the Prime Minister’s office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and even the website of the President’s residence.
However, the Israeli government says the cyber attacks didn’t manage to cause much harm. “One hacking attempt was successful and took down a site for a few minutes” said Carmela Avner, Chief Information Officer”, in a statement for ABC News. But it’s obvious for everybody the Gaza war is “being fought on three fronts”.
“The first is physical, the second is the world of social networks and the third is cyberattacks” said Avner. “The attackers are attempting to harm the accessibility of Israel’s government websites on an ongoing basis. When events like the current operation occur, this sector heats up and we see increased activity” she explained.
Anonymous, the group that is said to have shut down the CIA public website in February, has declared cyber war on Israel. The group says it has already attacked about 10,000 Israeli websites “in retaliation for the mistreating of people in Gaza and other areas”. A message on a page associated with the hackers sends Israel a direct threat: “November 2012 will be a month to remember for the (Israel Defense Forces) and the Internet security forces. Israeli Gov. this is/will turn into a cyberwar”.
