Israel’s conflict with Hamas has recently come to a head as rockets have flared from the Gaza Strip into Israel since Nov. 14. But cyber defense has become just as powerful as the Iron Dome system that Israel has activated to intercept rockets from the Israel’s volatile neighboring land.
Cyber security specialists have been desperately trying to repel millions of attempted attacks on Israel’s government websites.
Islam Shahwan, the spokesperson for the Hamas Ministry of Interior said, “From the very beginning, we called on Palestinian software technicians in Gaza and all over the world to use technology to undermine Israeli websites and pages.”
So far more than 44 million attempts have been made, according to Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz. But the efforts were not solely exerted by Palestinian officials. Attacks have come from Palestinian-support groups all over the world and have been occurring every few seconds.
Sunday, the world’s most notorious hacktivist group Anonymous declared “cyberwar” on Israel.
The group sent this message:
“Greetings Citizens of the world, This is Anonymous. It has come to our attention that the Israeli government has ignored repeated warnings about the abuse of human rights, shutting down the internet in Israel and mistreating its own citizens and those of its neighboring countries. November 2012 will be a month to remember for the Israeli defense forces and internet security forces. Israeli Gov. this is/will turn into a cyberwar.”
The cyberwar thus far has resulted in attacks on several Israeli websites and the release of 5,000 Israeli officials’ sensitive information.
Steinitz responded, “Beyond the main military battlefield, there is a secondary arena. Israel has been under unprecedented cyberattack.”
The virtual battle has coincided with the air attacks, as Israelis and Palestinians continually try to hack each other’s systems.
Today, a cease-fire was put into place, but it will undoubtedly be a shaky endeavor—relations between the two groups don’t exactly have a stable track record.
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