Hacktivist group Anonymous, along with numerous other hackers, is planning a massive cyber-attack on Israel, threatening to “erase” the country from Internet. Israel is apparently taking the threats seriously, with defensive preparations underway.
“Hacktivists Starting Cyber Attack against Israel on 7th of
April,” Anonymous wrote on Twitter, calling on hackers around
the world to join up for a second ‘OpIsrael.’
Israeli government agencies are reportedly readying for the
attack: “It’s something being organized online over the past few
days. What distinguishes this plan when compared to previous
attacks is that it really seems to be organized by
Anonymous-affiliated groups from around the world in what looks
like a joining of forces,” Ofir Ben Avi, director of online
group Accessible Government told Haaretz.
The first ‘OpIsrael’ cyber-attacks were launched by the
hacktivist group during Israeli’s ‘Pillar of Defense’ assault on
Gaza in November 2012.
“We are Anonymous. We are legion. We will not forgive. We
will not forget. Israel, it is too late to expect us,” their
message to Israeli authorities read.
Some 700 Israeli website suffered repeated cyber-attacks, including high-profile government systems such as the Foreign Ministry, and the Israeli President's official website. The Israeli Finance Ministry reported an estimated 44 million unique attacks on government websites.
Following ‘OpIsrael,’ Anonymous posted the online personal data of 5,000 Israeli officials, including names, ID numbers and personal emails.
Anonymous was also involved in an attack in which the details of
some 600,000 users of the popular Israeli email service Walla were
exposed online.