As tensions escalate on the military front, Israel is concurrently grappling with a deluge of cyber-attacks, spearheaded by hacktivist groups from diverse nationalities advocating for the Palestinian cause. This phenomenon has persisted since October 7th, and Israel has yet to officially confirm or deny the extent of the virtual onslaught.
Algerian Anonymous Targets Israeli Infrastructure
Prominent among the attacking groups is Anonymous Algeria, who gained notoriety during the Al-Aqsa storm. Explicitly supportive of the Palestinian struggle, the group claims to have compromised several of Israel’s critical websites, as reported by The Cyber Express. One of their most striking targets recently was the Israeli Police website, from which they allegedly harvested sensitive data. Although the group did not disclose the specifics of the compromised data, they did share a screenshot of the breached website via their Telegram account and the dark web.
Anonymous Algeria has asserted that they also infiltrated an Israeli company’s online platforms. They signaled their successful hack with a message on their Telegram account, indicating that the cyber-attack was a direct response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. The group has also vowed to perpetuate more attacks in the days ahead, in a show of unyielding support for the Palestinian cause.
AnonGhost Exploits Vulnerabilities in Israeli Alert System
According to Cyber News, another pro-Palestinian cyber-security group, AnonGhost, exploited a flaw in the Israeli alert application, “Red Alert: Israel,” designed to notify Israelis of incoming rocket fire. This loophole enabled the group to tamper with server and API requests, ultimately sending out fraudulent alerts to a number of the app’s users.
Post the initial strike on the alert application—which has since been removed from Google’s Play Store—AnonGhost publicly claimed responsibility for the incident. They targeted an application that has garnered over one million downloads on Google Play, amplifying the impact of their action.
As cyber threats continue to evolve in complexity, these hacktivist groups assert their digital prowess, introducing a new dimension to the ongoing conflict. Israel’s failure to either confirm or refute these attacks underscores the stealth and potency of this form of resistance, synchronized with the rising military tensions in the region.
