Hackers claim to hit Israeli tourism sites

The hackers claimed to have obtained ID numbers, addresses and credit card information from the attacked sites.

 A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017.  (photo credit: REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL/FILE PHOTO)
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017.
(photo credit: REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL/FILE PHOTO)

A hacker group called Sharp Boys claimed that it had obtained data from Israeli tourism sites on Tuesday, including ID numbers, addresses, credit card information and more.

Which sites were affected?

The affected sites, according to the hackers, are hotels.co.il, isrotel.com, minihotel.co.il, tivago.co.il and danhotels.com.

The group claimed that hotels.co.il was not accessible on Tuesday morning, but the site did load as of Tuesday afternoon.

"Wherever you go, even on your trips, you are under our control. Remember our name," said Sharp Boys in a photo posted on their Telegram channel.

Cyber Hackers (credit: REUTERS)
Cyber Hackers (credit: REUTERS)

"Wherever you go, even on your trips, you are under our control. Remember our name."

Hacker group Sharp Boys

The hack itself

Sharp Boys claimed that it had obtained control of the backend administration of the websites and released a spreadsheet it claimed contained the personal information of 120,000 people.

Earlier this month, the group claimed that it had hacked a series of other Israeli tourism sites and obtained the personal information of users from those sites as well.

Sharp Boys later published a spreadsheet it claimed contained the credit card information and personal information of 100,000 people.

Everything we know about the Sharp Boys hacker group:

The Sharp Boys hacker group first appeared in December, when it announced that it had hacked two Israeli hiking websites, leaking the information of 100,000 users and offering the information of around three million people for sale.

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The two affected sites in that attack were Tiyuli and Lametayel. Tiyuli is a website that provides information on hiking, attractions, maps and places to sleep throughout Israel. Lametayel is a chain of hiking and sporting goods stores and its site also provides information on hiking.

In all of their attacks, the Sharp Boys have not made or referenced any demands for ransom. It is unclear if the attacks are nationalistically motivated.

Israeli cybersecurity company Check Point reported on Tuesday that the global average number of weekly attacks on organizations in the travel and leisure sector had gone up by 60% in June 2022, compared with the first half of June 2021.