The Bank of Israel’s website was cracked Thursday. Readers of the English-language website noticed anti-Israeli and anti-American messages planted on the site by a Muslim hacker.
The hacker, who calls himself “The Moorish” after the medieval Muslim invaders, chose a defacement assault, whereby the web pages of the assaulted are sabotaged and their contents are altered. This sort of “invasion” is not considered deep or severe.
The hacker left a message on the site saying, “As an anti-colonial Muslim, I fully support the armed resistance of the Palestinians, Iraqis and Lebanese against the US and Israel. I am serious about the liberation! By any means rendered necessary!
“This is the only way by which oppressed people can emancipate themselves than from the Zionist and American oppressors€¦the oppressors have not conceded to non-violent measures; therefore, their victims have no commitment to non-violent resistance€¦”
The hacker signs off by quoting Malcolm X: “I’m nonviolent with those who are nonviolent with me.”
The hacker also left a link to a YouTube video featuring a uniformed movement armed with Kalashnikovs. The flags being waved in the video bear the Muslim declaration of belief, the Shahada (disambiguation), in ornate lettering. “The Moorish” is allegedly associated with a group of Algerian hackers called Team DZ, which has cracked US websites as well.
Bank of Israel responds
“The website was apparently cracked Thursday by hackers who inserted propaganda materials in Arabic,” said Bank of Israel’s Spokesman, Dr. Yossi Saadon, in response. Saadon added that the website has been blocked by the bank in order to fix the problem.
Bank of Israel’s website and internal systems are separately based, hence the financial data published by the bank can not be tampered with. Representative exchange rates can be retrieved by phone until the web service is restored.
• Ynetnews: Arab hackers target Israeli websites