Experts: Anonymous' Israel hacking 'amateur' so far

Security company official says Yad Vashem "fairly massive attack" in line with hackers' bid to strike on Holocaust Memorial Day.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Anonymous 370 (photo credit: Screen capture)
Anonymous 370
(photo credit: Screen capture)
The Avnet information security company, which set up a situation room to monitor cyber attacks on Israeli websites, said Sunday that so far, there have been a number of significant leaks of databases from websites, but that in general, the affected websites are small, and have not invested in basic security measures.
Over the weekend and on Sunday anti-Israel hackers claimed to have broken into hundreds of Israeli Facebook accounts, and updated their Twitter account with a list of Israeli websites they said have been hacked.
Roni Becher, who heads Avnet's cyber attack section, said, "It seems that these are simply quite basic attacks, that are not unusual in their complexity... and which suit amateur children."
He added that the website of the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum has come under a "fairly massive attack," adding that this is in line with a decision by anti-Israel hackers to strike near the start of Holocaust Memorial Day events.
The Yad Vashem website remains accessible to online visitors.
A list circulated on the internet of official Israeli websites that were under attack by the anti-Israel group included the official website of the Prime Minister's Office, the Israeli Defense Forces website, and more.
"As of midday, Israeli government websites are accessible to the public, as they were for the entire weekend," a Treasury Ministry statement said.
The official site of the Ministry of Education appeared to have been affected but the statement issued by the Treasury said the Education Ministry's website had not been accessible during the weekend due a "technical fault." The website was back on line on Sunday afternoon.
Israeli hackers responded to the cyber-attacks by breaking into the server hosting a major anti-Israeli hacking nerve center.
Jpost.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report