El Al and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange web sites hit by cyber- attacks

Hackers disrupted last Monday online access to El Al Airlines, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and three banks in what a Government spokesman described as a cyber-offensive against Israel.
 
El Al Airlines said in a statement that it was taking security measures to protect the website and that disruptions on the site were to be expected. El Al flights operated normally despite the disruption.
 
The cyber- attacks caused particular alarm in Israel which depends on high-tech systems for much of its defence against hostile neighbors. Officials insist, however, that they pose no immediate security threat. The cyber- attacks began earlier this month by a hacker identifying himself as oxOmar, assumed to be a member of hackers identifying themselves as group-xp, a known Saudi hacking group, claimed on an Israeli sports website to have gained access to 400,000 Israeli credit card accounts.
 
The group called it a “gift to the world for the New Year” designed to “hurt the Zionist pocket.” The attackers did not break into the sites' operating systems, but used a far simpler tactic: creating an overload of access attempts.
 
Neither the Israeli economy nor flights in and out of the country were endangered, and the sites appeared to be recovering within hours, but the assault left many Israelis feeling vulnerable.
 
A Government spokesman noted that the continuing raids by hackers, who use anti-Israel language in their posts, has revealed how vulnerable Israel is to cyber warfare, despite its highly sophisticated computer security units in the military and advanced hi-tech sector.