The Bank of Israel is "temporarily closed", after Algerian hackers broke into the site on Friday to leave a message: "Hear me Jews, you're a nation whose fate is sealed and sooner or later you will lose in war." Senior bank officials, away on their Passover holiday, were unaware of the break-in until they learned about it on "Globes", which broke the story.
"Globes" has obtained an image of the Bank of Israel's website after the break-in. The text goes on to say, "Victory will come, inshallah and the scenario of Chechnya will be repeated and we will drive you out. Millions of young Muslims are willing to die for al-Quds, which belongs to us." This is the first time that hackers have succeeded in planting their own message on an official Israeli website.
The failure of the Bank of Israel's security was broad; this is the first time that the site has been down for such a long time. Sources inform ''Globes'' that Bank of Israel reports up to October 2007 have been erased, indicating the severity and significance of the disruption of the bank's database system, even as some data has been recovered.
Bank of Israel spokesman Yossi Saadon said in response, "The matter is being dealt with, and there bank's information and content systems are separate." He added that persons seeking updates about exchange rates can call the bank's call center at 1212-332999.
Saadon added, "This incident has no effect on the bank's internal systems." However, the question remains if the hacker was able to alter information, such as exchange rates data.
Saadon said that banking and other financial transactions systems were protected, and that there is no way to hack into the Bank of Israel's data systems from the Internet. The bank's website was built by an external provider, who set its security arrangements. The Bank of Israel can therefore make the argument that the external provider is responsible for the website's security.
The Bank of Israel is not certain that Algeria is the only source of the hacking. It declined to answer a question from "Globes" as to whether Gaza was also a source. There are also speculations that Hizbullah might be behind the hacking, and other sources could be Beirut or Qatar.
Saadon said that the Bank of Israel would get its website back on the air only after verifying the source of the hacking and ensuring that it over.
Sources adds that Israel is fighting a war of skills against Algerian hackers. Sources at the Bank of Israel said that there was no problem is reconstituting the website, but the bank's experts are facing determined hackers who are able to break into its system via new loopholes as the Bank of Israel seals breaches. The hackers have been able to disrupt data, hack into files, and insert their own messages.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 27, 2008
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008