Hackers attacked the websites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and El Al Israel Airlines Ltd., slowing down access after a pro-Palestinian computer group calling itself “Nightmare” warned of an imminent assault.
Both the stock exchange and El Al, Israel’s biggest carrier, said today their websites had been affected by the attack, though not immobilized. Stock trading was unaffected.
“What was hacked was our main website, which provides information,” said Idit Yaaron, a Tel Aviv Stock Exchange spokeswoman. “The trading computer was not hacked and trading is going on as usual.”
Nightmare signaled its plan to attack the two corporate websites in an email Sunday night to the Ynet news service, which reported on its own site that the message was sent by a person identifying himself as a Saudi Arabian hacker. The same person has been exposing the numbers of thousands of Israeli credit cards in recent weeks.
El Al issued a statement saying it was taking measures to protect its website and warned there may be more disruptions.
The Palestinian Hamas movement called Sunday for an escalation of Internet hacking against Israel, declaring an electronic war against the Jewish state. A group referring to itself as the Gaza Hacker team attacked websites last week belonging to the Israel Fire and Rescue Services, and Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu established a National Cyber Directorate in August to guard against infiltration of the country’s government and business computer systems.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union.
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