'Electronic Holocaust' Threat Falls Short
JERUSALEM, Israel -- The Bible says the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (I Peter 5:8)
Such would seem the threat, posted on YouTube last month, of an "Electronic Holocaust" against Israel on Tuesday, April 7, ostensibly as punishment for last summer's military operation against Hamas, the Palestinian offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood that controls the Gaza Strip.
"We will erase you from cyberspace in our Electronic Holocaust," they threatened.
International hackers, many associated with Islamist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, promised to disable Israeli government and military websites, email, and bank accounts and credit card records.
By midday Tuesday, the hackers had little success penetrating government websites, including the Israel Airport Authority, the Knesset, and the Education Ministry.
But they did manage to disrupt service to private websites, among them the Israeli Center for Excellence in Education and the Israeli Urological Association. They also succeeded in hacking the websites of several Israeli singers and a band.
Meanwhile, Israelis have been advised to be especially vigilant in light of the threat by not opening emails, links, or attachments from unknown sources and by making sure their electronic data is protected by state-of-the-art anti-virus software.
