Cyber-Attack Hits a Large Number of Websites in Israel

(Bloomberg) --

A large number of Israeli websites reported a cyber-attack during the past few hours, the Israel National Cyber Directorate said on Thursday.

The websites were defaced with anti-Israel material, the directorate said in a tweet. It advised the public not to click any links on these sites.

Hundreds of websites were affected, including those of companies, local government, and non-profit organizations, with hackers replacing their usual content with a video depicting the cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa in flames, Israel Hayom newspaper website reported. Messages including “The countdown of Israel destruction has begun since a long time ago” also appeared, it said.

UPress, an Israeli website storage company, said in a recorded message on its main telephone number that it had identified a “widespread” attack on websites that it stores, attributing the event to “anti-Israel, Iranian” hackers.

According to the Israel Hayom report, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., a technology security developer, attributed the attack to a group of hackers likely from Turkey, North Africa and the Gaza Strip. The Tel Aviv-based company said that while others may have been active as well, it couldn’t identify any Iranian involvement at this point, the newspaper reported.

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