Hacking groups are increasingly targeting Israeli organizations following attacks by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023.
Some of the cyberattacks that have been reported dating back to October 7 include:
1. Attack Against Israeli Government Website
On October 8, the Israeli government website gov.il was inaccessible, Cybernews reported. Russian hacking group Killnet took responsibility for a cyberattack that shut down the site.
2. Attacks Against The Jerusalem Post
Hacktivist group Anonymous Sudan attacked the website of The Jerusalem Post, the largest English-language daily newspaper in Israel, on October 8, the Deccan Herald noted. The Jerusalem Post said on X (formerly Twitter) that it had been the target of several cyberattacks that caused its website to crash after the Hamas attacks.
3. Attack Against Israel's Iron Dome
On October 7, hacktivist group Anonymous Sudan claimed it targeted the Iron Dome, Israel's mobile all-weather air defense system, SecurityWeek reported. At this time, Anonymous Sudan also stated that it attacked alert applications in Israel.
4. Israel Hydroelectric Power Plant Attack
Pakistani hacktivist group Team Insane PK allegedly attacked an Israeli hydroelectric power plant, Cybernet indicated.
5. RedAlert App Attack
Pro-Palestinian hacktivist group AnonGhost exploited an API bug to infiltrate Israel's RedAlert app, which provides users with real-time missile warnings, according to The Record. Once AnonGhost accessed RedAlert, it was able to send a fake threat about a nuclear attack.
6. Israel Independent System Operator Attack
Cyber Av3ngers, a pro-Hamas hacktivist group, targeted the Israel Independent System Operator power grid organization, SecurityWeek reported. The group claimed it compromised the operator's network and shut down its website.
7. Israel Electric Corporation
Cyber Av3ngers reportedly targeted the Israel Electric Corporation, which represents the largest supplier of electrical power in Israel and the Palestinian territories, SecurityWeek noted.
Along with these attacks against Israeli organizations, Indian hackers allegedly took down the Hamas website on October 7, Cybernews pointed out.
Internet Traffic in Israel Increases Following Hamas Attacks
Two networks in the Gaza Strip went offline hours after Hamas launched its attacks on October 7, Cloudflare reported.
On October 9, two additional networks in the Gaza Strip experienced outages, Cloudflare noted.
In addition, Cloudflare indicated that there has been an uptick in cyberattacks targeting Israel, including a 1.26 billion HTTP requests distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, and Palestine in the days after Hamas' attacks.
How MSSPs Can Respond to the Israel Cyberattacks
Cloudflare is continuing to monitor internet traffic patterns in Israel and Palestine, the company noted. Meanwhile, MSSPs can use the Cloudflare Radar tool to view these patterns.
In a LinkedIn post, Noam Schwartz, CEO of online trust and security platform ActiveFence, has encouraged MSSPs and other members of the cybersecurity community to reach out to friends, colleagues and partners with ties to Israel and offer support.
"They are navigating an unprecedented situation in their lifetime, witnessing events they never believed they would see. Your words go a long way and might be the anchor they need," Schwartz wrote.
Furthermore, MSSPs can continue to follow the news regarding the Israel-Hamas war. This allows MSSPs to stay up to date on the conflict and find opportunities to show their support to fellow members of the cybersecurity community, their customers and others that may be affected.
