Israel appears to be recovering from a massive cyber attack. Attackers compromised several Israeli government websites on Monday night, including the Ministry of Health, Interior, Justice and Welfare, Haaretz and Kan’s Amichai Stein reported. The Prime Minister’s Office’s website was also affected. All sites are now back online, Israel’s National Network Authority said in a statement.
While the Israeli government has not formally identified the likely perpetrators, it noted that the sites were victims of a denial-of-service attack that flooded them with traffic. The source said the cyberattack targeted a website with the gov.il domain name and was also suspected of being a state actor or a “large organization”. It was also learned that an Iran-linked hacking group was allegedly responsible for the attacks, which may have been in retaliation for Israel’s actions against Iran’s nuclear facilities. However, neither of these things has been confirmed.
#BREAKING: Large-scale cyberattack against Israel. Government websites are down. pic.twitter.com/aPg2TsQimI
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) March 14, 2022
According to a defense source in the country, it was unclear whether this was the largest cyber-attack against Israel to date. However, the country’s armed forces and defense officials were reportedly concerned enough to declare a state of emergency and review possible damage, including any that could compromise other critical websites and critical infrastructure.
It is understood that these denial of service attacks are unlikely to cause much damage. They just make the site harder to access, but there is no evidence the perpetrators compromised the site or leaked data.