When IDF launched its recent offensive in Gaza, Anonymous was quick to denounce the attack and vowed that it would attack the websites of the Israeli government. The group then launched #OpIsrael and has since taken down hundreds of Israeli government’s sites and wiped many databases.
Normally, Anonymous makes use of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks to take down a website. DDoS attacks overwhelm the traffic reaching a given website and may crash its server but it usually causes only a temporary inaccessibility.
In the case of #OpIsrael, Anonymous hackers seem to have gone farther and are making use of more sophisticated tools rather that just DDoS attacks. This is evident from the fact that the hacktivist group has been able to access and delete the databases of a number of websites, including those of Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A number of websites have also been defaced. Not only that, data from Israeli websites is actively being leaked onto the web. An AnonPaste entry, for example, contains the email address and passwords of some 2004 people, belonging to a private Israeli website.
Before launching its own digital offensive against Israel, Anonymous had posted a press release which clearly cited the reasons it was launching the attack. A part of this PR reads,
“When the government of Israel publicly threatened to sever all Internet and other telecommunications into and out of Gaza they crossed a line in the sand. As the former dictator of Egypt Mubarack learned the hard way – we are ANONYMOUS and NO ONE shuts down the Internet on our watch. To the IDF and government of Israel we issue you this warning only once. Do NOT shut down the Internet into the “Occupied Territories”, and cease and desist from your terror upon the innocent people of Palestine or you will know the full and unbridled wrath of Anonymous. And like all the other evil governments that have faced our rage, you will NOT survive it unscathed.”
Source: Anon Relations
Courtesy: TNW
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