The Israeli government on Saturday promised to retaliate against a cyber-attack last week that saw the theft and publication of thousands of Israelis’ credit-card details, an incident Israel compared to an act of terrorism.
“Israel has active capabilities for striking at those who are trying to harm it, and no agency or hacker will be immune from retaliatory action,” said Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, in a statement.
He said the theft represented “a breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation, and must be treated as such”.
OxOmar released several batches of credit card data affecting more than 14,000 Israeli cardholders, and has claimed to have the details on 400,000 Isralis, according to reports.
Thus far, many of the card details have proven to be expired or false, but on Sunday Israeli media said an 18-year-old Israeli man had been arrested after using the hacked data to purchase a smartphone, a tablet computer and other items.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said OxOmar had been identified as a 19-year-old United Arab Emirates citizen studying in Mexico, but OxOmar has denied the connection.
Hamas, a militant Islamist group, lauded OxOmar’s actions. “We urge Arab youth to ignore these cowardly Israeli threats and to use all means available in the virtual space to confront Israeli crimes,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.
Israeli targets of cyber-attacks have included the Bank of Israel, the website of the Tel Aviv municipality, the Israeli army, the Mossad national intelligence agency and Shin Bet, Israel’s security service.
The Israeli government has also been behind its own cyber-agression, according to industry observers. For instance, forensic analysis of the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iranian government targets indicated it appeared to have been developed by Israel along with the US government.
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What a sad old World we live in.
Can't we all get on with one another?
Apparently not.
I thank God that I will not be around when the next lot of combat occurs, but, I have serious concerns for my three grandchildrens future.
Get a life you Jews, Arabs and Caucasians, it is shorter than you think!
you mean get a life terrorists ! who like to create havoc in the world = terror. Instead of focusing on their families and loved ones and trying to better themselves they seek to target and hurt others. This is their whole raison detre.
Its amazing how anything that goes against america and israel is always labeled as an act of terror. However in this article it mentions that Stuxnet worm was developed by these two nations to attack Iranian goverment. So why does that not count as an act of terror as well??? Its the same crime (i.e. hacking). Am i the only one to see a double standard? Its either a crime for BOTH parties or its not a crime for BOTH parties. Until there is a single standard for every nation there will always be conflict. Anyway who gave america and israel the right to decide every major decision that goes on in the world today?? Why does their opinion matter more than other countries if, like they insist, everybody is equal??
Jews and Arabs ARE caucasians, genius.
Phantoms and shadows cannot be held to account, even if you do have Mossad on your side, it doesn't mean you are guaranteed to identify where the attack is really from. An originating IP isn't always what it seems.
This Danny Ayalon really needs to learn about hacking before spouting this nonsense... he'll only provoke more hacking like this.
HA HA HA HA
what a pity after all the arabs have done to help them through. when no one seems to take them in as refuge in europe. and even so called america denied the jews entry into their own country. guess a lot of people dont know the truth and history that when the arabs conqured europe with only spain left, then the arabs decided to leave spain back to the mid east country it was then the jews went along with them only because they felt safe and protected in their hands than in the hands of the european. and since then they have treated the jews like their own brothers. only if the arabs have know the kind of people they are and why they've been denied by others of their own race would they have helped them now see what have become of them for helping the w....d and c......s jews!!!!! really sad