The cyberwar continues with an Israeli cyberattack on Saudi and Abu Dhabi stock market websites • Calling his group "IDF-Team," hacker retaliates for Arab attack on Tel Aviv stock exchange site on Monday • "IDF-Team" says this is only the beginning.
Hezi Sternlicht, Ilan Gattegno and News Agencies
Abu Dhabi stock market. Israeli hacker targets Arab web pages in retaliation for cyberattacks on Israeli sites by "0xOmar." | Photo credit: Reuters | |||||
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In the latest round of Israeli-Arab online hacking wars, an Israeli group of hackers calling itself the "IDF-Team" crashed the Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi stock market web pages on Tuesday.
The group said it was retaliating for Monday's cyberattack on the websites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and El Al, Israel's national airline, by a purported Saudi Arabian hacker. The Saudi, "0xOmar," had publicly threatened to launch attacks on commercial Israeli sites 24 hours before apparently doing so.
As the Saudi and Abu Dhabi stock market pages were blocked on Tuesday, the "IDF-Team" identified itself on the same web page that hacker 0xOmar first used to publicize a list of Israeli credit card holders together with their details. After the self-described Saudi hacker allegedly leaked the credit card details of some 15,000 Israelis, an Israeli hacker calling himself "0xOmer" proceeded to retaliate, exposing the credit card information of hundreds of Saudi citizens, sparking a tit-for-tat exchange in recent days.
An Israeli hacker who claimed to be the leader of the "IDF-Team" wrote in a hacker forum: "Because lame hackers from Saudi Arabia decided to launch an attack against Israeli sites such as the airport site El Al and sites of Israeli banks, today, 01/17/12, official stock exchange site of Saudi Arabia at the following addresshttp://www.adx.ae will not be available online, and that is only the beginning. In addition, there may be disruption to the government's stock exchange site at the following: http://www.sama.gov.sa/. If the lame attacks from Saudi Arabia will continue, we will move to the next level which will disable these sites [in the] longer term [which] may come to weeks or even months. You have been warned."
The Israeli hackers did not, however, mention the main Saudi stock market page (tadawul.com.sa) in their message, despite the fact that the page could not be accessed on Tuesday.
Intelligence Services Minister Dan Meridor, meanwhile, criticized the cyberattacks by Israeli hackers of Saudi websites.
"Independent initiatives by Israeli hackers to attack Saudi hackers, or hackers from anywhere else, are ineffective and should not be done in Israel's name," Meridor told Israel Radio.
Meridor added that it had not been confirmed that the hackers who penetrated the Israeli websites were in fact Saudi nationals.
The Saudi and Egyptian stock markets are considered central markets in the Arab world. More than 144 companies buy and sellstocks on the Saudi market, including companies involved in the Saudi petrochemical, crude oil, infrastructure and agricultural industries.
In a statement published on its website on Wednesday, the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) denied media reports that its website had been exposed to an alleged cyberattack by Israeli hackers, according to the Al-Arabiya English news site.
Al-Arabiya reported that the statement said that all Tadawul’s systems were operating properly and normally. The statement added that Tadawul applied many advanced security measures to guarantee the protection of all its operations.
In an email exchange with Beirut-based Al-Akhbar website in English, 0xOmar said he would be releasing the details of 200 Israeli credit cards daily. "Israel's end is near. I want to start ending them in the cyberworld," the hacker said.
Stock trading and El Al flights operated normally despite the disruption. While apparently confined to areas causing only limited inconvenience, the attacks have caused particular alarm in a country that depends on high-tech systems for much of its defense against hostile neighbors. Officials insist, however, that they pose no immediate security threat.
Reacting to the ongoing cyberwar, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on his Facebook page, "They [the Saudi hackers] have demanded an apology for Israel's defensive measures. I am using this platform to send a clear message that ... they will not silence us on the Internet, or in any forum."
According to Israel's Channel 10, 0xOmar launched his own website with a forum called "0xOmar Cyber Intifada." The Saudi hacker has singled out Ayalon as his number one target, saying, "I send my thanks to Gaza hackers who have successfully hacked stupid Danny Ayalon's website ... Danny Ayalon, I am here, waiting for you."
In his email to Al-Akhbar, 0xOmar said, "Danny Ayalon proved his stupidity multiple times. He just talks, 'We'll catch, we'll do, we'll reply, we, we, we, we'll.' Enough said, Danny, enough said. You say and I do. You talk and I hack, this is the reality. Wake up, you cannot even find me, I keep publishing and when you talked again, Gaza hackers taught you a lesson, hacked your homepage and put a shoe on your face. We don't have anything to say about people who just talk, we act!"
