The state of Israel is one of the places whose cyberinfrastructure is continuously under cyber attack from hackers around the world. On November 2nd (Balfour Declaration), a group of Turkish hackers going by the online handle of “Akincilar / Cyber-Warrior” hacked and defaced the official website of “The Times of Israel,” a prominent Israeli-based news website.
The group left a deface page along with a message in Arabic and Turkish language showing solidarity with Palestine and Gaza City. The Arabic passage was taken from verse 2:57 from sūrat Al-Baqarah (The Cow) of the Holy Book of Quran stating that “And We shaded you with clouds and sent down to you manna and quails, , “Eat from the good things with which We have provided you.” And they wronged Us not – but they were wronging themselves.”
A full preview of the deface page is available below:
The Times of Israel also acknowledged the attack in a Tweet stating that “The Times of Israel is under hacker attack. We’re working to restore normal service as soon as possible.”
The Times of Israel is under hacker attack. We're working to restore normal service as soon as possible.
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) November 2, 2017
“I assume it was not coincidental that this attack on The Times of Israel took place on the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, a foundational document for the State of Israel,” Times of Israel’s editor David Horovitz said.
At the time of publishing this article, the Times of Israel was restored and available online. However, previously, anti-Israeli hackers targeted high-profile targets in the country including Israeli drone, security cameras, IDF soldiers, and their smartphones.