Hackers target Haaretz's Hebrew website in cyber attack

Hackers kept up their efforts to disrupt Israeli websites on Monday, continuing the largely unsuccessful cyber attack that began on Saturday night. Computer security experts said that while the hackers have failed to take down any major websites, the attack was still substantial.

"Currently, the hackers' underground message board is logging the activity of some 670 hackers, who are directing their activity toward Haaretz's website, on the assumption that it is a central pivot to Israeli society," explained Roni Bachar, a cyber-security expert at the Avnet Information Security.

According to Bachar, "Most of the damage was a result of webhosting companies that hadn't taken the minimal security measures and private people that simply ignored the clear instructions to be alert, change passwords, and refuse to accept attachments and file from unknown sources."

Some small websites were shut down Sunday by the so-called “Operation Israel” attack, but of the few major sites hit, most were affected only briefly. The latter included the Education Ministry website, which crashed Saturday night, and the Israel Military Industries website.

“Fewer than 100 small websites and some 15 large organizations were affected for periods ranging from a few minutes to a few hours. Only two or three were affected for lengthy periods,” said Avi Weissman, the CEO of See-Security, which was responsible for the “situation room” run by the Israeli Forum for Information Security.

Web security experts said there were significant efforts to attack Israeli websites through distributed denial-of-service attacks − in which a flood of incoming messages forces a targeted website to shut down and deny service to legitimate users − but the Israeli web community rebuffed most of them. Several banks fended off attacks simply by denying access from abroad.

Many of the attacks were far less sophisticated than the pre-attack hacker hype led people to expect. “Compared to what I was expecting from such an attack, this was nothing,” said Weissman. “The successes were at an even lower level.”

Israeli hackers meanwhile launched a counter-attack. One of the targets was OpIsrael.com, the website used by the organizers of the virtual offensive. Israelis posted pro-Israel content on the site, along with audio of “Hatikvah,” the country’s national anthem.

Web experts continued to warn Israelis to be wary through today, though, on the assumption that a failure to take down major networks might lead the hackers to focus on less-well-protected sites so as not to be left without any victory to claim.