Israel-based cybersecurity firm Check Point Software said that the company has tracked over 40 groups conducting attacks that overwhelmed and disrupted more than 80 websites starting with the day of the Hamas onslaught. These included government and media sites and have the appearance of a concerted cyber follow-up to the genocidal terrorist attacks that took place on the ground.
The media is, of course, a prime target in any conflict and Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Avi Mayer reports that the newspaper’s website went on and offline multiple times in the days following the Hamas ground attack.
“In parallel to the Hamas invasion of Israel, we have observed a significant increase in cyber aggression against Israeli targets,” observes Tel-Aviv-based cybersecurity firm Radware.
It is thought by sources close to the situation that the escalating cyber-attacks now hitting Israel are coming from outside Gaza, given the latter’s low- internet connectivity in general, which will have been further worsened by the recent power cuts. In any case, cyber-attacks launched from Gaza might have alerted Israel to the escalating probability of a savage ground attack in the months and weeks before Hamas’ bloodthirsty attack.
Potentially lethal cyber-attacks
Iran, in particular, is a vociferous supporter of Hamas and has a history of conducting a series of potentially lethal cyber-attacks on the citizens of the state of Israel. For example, a Western intelligence official recently revealed to the London-based newspaper The Financial Times that Iran tried to increase chlorine levels in the water flowing to Israeli residential areas during April’s cyberattack against Israel’s water systems.
The escalating cyber conflict mirrors the military strategy being pursued by Iran of exhausting Israel’s resources in a constant remote war of attrition, of which the recent ground attack is an example. Given that Hamas’ avowed intent is not only the destruction of the state of Israel but also of the Jewish people themselves. It is, therefore, thought likely that cyber-attacks on Jewish businesses and communities may escalate in pace with on-the-ground hostilities in Gaza, taking the cyber conflict to countries outside the region such as the US and the UK.
