Did Saudi hacker OxOmar topple the websites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL)? It is currently impossible to access these websites, and El Al's website has a slide which says that the site is down for maintenance.
In a press release, El Al says, "We are aware that a cyberwar has been waged against Israel for the past two weeks. El Al is closely monitoring activity by the Saudi hacker. We are also taking cautionary measures for activity on the company's website. Consequently, disruptions in the site's activity are possible."
The TASE website is also not online, and a slide says that the site is down for maintenance. The TASE management has not yet responded, and the matter is under examination.
"There was an attack on the TASE website, but we don’t know who the attacker is," said a source close to the matter. "Access routes to the site are blocked. The TASE is trying to change the access constantly so that people can enter, and it's possible to enter the site intermittently if you hit F5 often. At the moment, access routes to the site are jammed, but the Maya announcements site is functioning normally, as are trading systems."
This morning, news site "Ynet" reported that a group of pro-Palestinian hackers informed the Saudi hacker that they intended to crash to websites - and the threat has apparently been carried out. "Ynet" has been in contact with the Saudi hacker OxOmar, who promised that a group of hackers would crash the TASE and El Al websites today.
In a statement yesterday, Hamas saluted pro-Palestinian hackers, including OxOmar, for succeeding in undermining and harming Israel through the attack of recent weeks. Hamas called for an intensification of the cyberwar against Israel, calling it a "new front in the resistance to the Israeli occupation."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 16, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012