A group of Iranian hackers has broken into a series of Israeli websites with a vindictive agenda. According to reports, roughly 2,000 Israel-based sites have been defaced in the attack. After taking over, the hackers flashed anti-Israeli propaganda messages on the site homepage. They asked for camera permission from the visitors. The Israel National Cyber Directorate has accepted the massive hack.
The Massive Hacking Campaign
The Israeli national authority has assured Israeli citizens that they were taking care of the situation and recommended that the site visitors refrain from clicking on any link. The Israeli authority has confirmed that the incident involves a surface-level attack on a bunch of sites. The websites are hosted by an Israel-based web hosting service provider uPress. The targeted sites belong to "various municipalities, United Hatzalah (a volunteer-based emergency medical services organization), the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) Authority, several Israeli-based NGOs, the official site of Meretz party leader, Nitzan Horowit, food chains, including Coffix and Nafis as well as the site of Israel'sIsrael's most popular espresso and coffee chain, Aroma," noted ynetnews.
uPress statement
The hosting service provider has acknowledged the hack and stated that the hackers had exploited a vulnerability that exists in a WordPress plugin and took over all the sites. uPress has explained the reason behind the breach through a lengthy post on its official Facebook handle. The hosting company said it is working with the Israeli authorities to investigate the hack.
Propaganda
One message posted by the hackers said: "The countdown to Israel's destruction has begun." The hackers also posted threatening phrases, YouTube video links, and images of what they called destruction of Tel Aviv.
Vendetta
The attack came days after a cyberattack on an Iranian port. But there is no evidence against the Iranian government until now. According to several reports, the cyberattack on the Shahid Rajaee Port in Iran was executed by Israel.
A hacker group called "Hackers of Saviour" has been held responsible for the attack. According to a ZDNet report, the group consists of at least nine members from several Muslim countries such as Turkey, Palestine, Morocco and Egypt.
