Cyber Warfare Escalation in Hamas-Israel war Targeting Critical National Infrastructures on both sides.
The Hamas-Israel war has escalated into cyber warfare as targeted cyberattacks aimed at Israeli critical national infrastructures following the surprise large-scale attack by Palestinian group Hamas.
Among the recorded incidents was an attack on the country’s services and government information website, resulting in the portal’s connectivity failure.
It was claimed by hacktivists “Killnet” who posted in a statement saying: “Israeli government, you are responsible for this bloodshed,” Killnet said, as quoted by Cybernews.
“Back in 2022, you supported the terrorist regime in Ukraine. You betrayed Russia. Today, Killnet officially informs you of this! All government systems of Israel will be subject to our attacks!”
Whether the perpetrators were Killnet or others pretending to be Killnet can be be 100% verified. what is clear is the statement desires to expand the Palestinian Israeli into a global event by connecting it to the Ukraine war and the waring parties in that conflict.
Media, Iron Dome, Power Station Attacked
A separate attack came from Anonymous Sudan announced it sides with Hamas and targeted newspaper The Jerusalem Post. The Tel Aviv media outlet confirmed the activity on X, saying that “multiple cyberattacks” caused its website to crash.
The company said it will be back soon to continue covering Hamas’ “murderous attacks.”Simultaneously, Anonymous Sudan took credit for a digital assault on the Israeli government’s Iron Dome all-weather air defense capability.
Meanwhile, Pakistani hackers called “Team Insane PK” took credit for a cyberattack on an Israeli hydroelectric power station. Data stolen from this activity will be released soon, the cyber group announced.
Team Insane PK is a religious cyberterrorist known for targeting Indian entities since February 2023.
Israel’s President Telegram Hacked
Days prior to Hamas’ attack, the Telegram channel of Israeli President Isaac Herzog was hacked.
The breach was thought to be “criminal in nature,” the president’s office said, suggesting it was not linked to a foreign power or tied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Investigations showed no information was stolen, according to the government’s internal security agency Shin Bet.
Additionally, reports by CyberNews revealed that several Israeli organizations have exposed the SCADA communications protocol called Modbus. Around 400 exposed systems were identified along with 150 open Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) ports. These ports manage communications between SCADA and MES (manufacturing execution system).
What’s worth noting is that this is not just in Israel, many Palestinian firms also have exposed MODBUS and MQTT, and in addition to that, have exposed Siemens automation and Symantec systems. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that threat actors are aiming to target them.
Stay tuned. Unfolding developments.