Israel Hack: Officials Vow To Hit Back After Credit Card Security Breach

* Deputy foreign minister likens cyber-attacks to terrorism

* Hamas urges more "virtual resistance" against Israelis (Adds Hamas comment)

By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Israel said on Saturday the online publication of thousands of its citizens' credit card details by a hacker who says he is based in Saudi Arabia was comparable to terrorism, and promised to hit back.

The data theft, which appeared to focus on commercial websites, was one of the worst Israel has said it has faced.

While government officials and credit card companies said the financial damage was minimal, the breaches were welcomed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas and have heightened concerns about the potential use of stolen information by the Jewish state's foes.

Such cyber-attacks are "a breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation, and must be treated as such", Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in a speech, adding that Israel had not yet ruled out the possibility that the hacking had been carried out by a group "more organised and sophisticated ... than a lone youth".

"Israel has active capabilities for striking at those who are trying to harm it, and no agency or hacker will be immune from retaliatory action," he said, without elaborating.

The hacker, identifying himself as Saudi-based OxOmar, said on Thursday he had leaked private information about more than 400,000 Israelis. Credit card companies said around 25,000 numbers, some of them expired, had been posted as of Friday.

After Israeli media ran what they described as interviews conducted with OxOmar over email, the Haaretz newspaper said a blogger had tracked the hacker down and determined he was a 19-year-old citizen of the United Arab Emirates studying and working in Mexico.

An aide to Ayalon, Lital Shochat, said Israel was aware of the report but had not yet requested help from Mexican authorities.

Hamas, an Islamist group that sees itself as locked in holy war with Israel but has hinted it could curb armed attacks as part of reconciliation talks with more moderate Palestinian rivals, described OxOmar's actions as "a new form of resistance".

"We urge Arab youth to ignore these cowardly Israeli threats and to use all means available in the virtual space to confront Israeli crimes," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in Gaza. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Rosin the Bow]

12:14 PM on 01/10/2012

This post is for Yank in France to respond to me proving his post that Hamas has moderated wrong.

[Yank in France]

06:30 AM on 01/11/2012

Hi Rosie,

I think I did respond to your post about Hamas quite adequately, but look, I have some news straight from Israel about terrorists attacking people at places of worship! Can you believe? We are talking about the defacement of these temples and attacks on human beings for doing nothing more than existing!

Please read this article from the fastest growing daily in Israe, OK? Above all, join me in condemning these bigots.

"Israeli police said on Wednesday that a mosque has been defaced with Hebrew graffiti and three cars have been torched in a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that vandals painted "price tag" and "Gal Arye Yosef" overnight on a wall of the mosque in the village of Dir Istiyya.

"Price tag" refers to a practice by Jewish extremists of accosting Palestinian property - and more recently, Israeli military bases - in retaliation for Israeli government action against settlers.
Gal Arye Yosef is the name of a small, unauthorized settlement outpost that Israeli security forces demolished on Tuesday.
Last Wednesday, two vehicles were set on fire in what police described as "price tag" attacks in a Palestinian car wash in the East Jerusalem village of Sharafat before dawn."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-police-mosque-defaced-cars-torched-in-suspected-price-tag-attack-1.406690

[Rosin the Bow]

08:07 AM on 01/11/2012

"I think I did respond to your post about Hamas quite adequately­, but look, I have some news straight from Israel about terrorists attacking people at places of worship!"

Actually you didn't respond to it at all. You just changed the subject to Israel the way you did here. It doesn't work.

Hamas said last month that they want to liberate "their land" from the sea to the river. What do you say about that?

[senalvingreene]

08:39 PM on 01/09/2012

AnonymousHackerGroup IS RESPONIBLE FOR THE HACK.

[James Stein]

05:20 PM on 01/09/2012

This whole thing looks to me as a childish sandbox stand-off.

But on the question of identity theft, there is actually a lot we can do to protect ourselves against criminals. We really shouldn't allow these guys to scare us into making decisions we wouldn't make on our own free will. Here you will find specific tips on what you can be doing (http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/should-we-all-ditch-our-credit-cards-and-opt-for-cash-instead), but most of all you should be relying on your common sense and be vigilant when using your cards. If you ever identify any suspicious activity on your account, immediately contact your issuer and if there is any unauthorized charge, you will be reimbursed for it.

[Scottishnproud]

12:55 PM on 01/09/2012

http://www.arabsforisrael.com/

Read and weep JEWHATERS

[No Dogma Freedom]

10:45 PM on 01/09/2012

I take it you are saying all Jews are alike!?

VP Mission Statement

Jewish Voice for Peace members are inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, equality, human rights, respect for international law, and a U.S. foreign policy based on these ideals.

JVP opposes anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab bigotry and oppression. JVP seeks an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem; security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians; a just solution for Palestinian refugees based on principles established in international law; an end to violence against civilians; and peace and justice for all peoples of the Middle East.

http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/content/jvp-mission-statement

So you are saying that all Jews are on the same page as you or it is that your are saying

Good J, are this and bad J's are this: thus we must-----?

[GilGamish]

11:42 PM on 01/09/2012

I don't think he was saying any such thing. and I can't imagine how you could come to that conclusion. I think you just wanted to promote JVP which has a clear political agenda that decidedly does not include opposing anti-Jewish bigotry at least when being practiced by Muslim or the extreme left. JVP represents a very small number of Jews. JVP has never worked to prevent the treatment of Jews in Yemen. Nor have they criticized Hamas' repression of the people of Gaza. They are about political agenda hiding behind HR .

[Yank in France]

06:35 AM on 01/11/2012

Great post, No Dogma Freedom, and you sent it to the right person, because he has called for the extermination of entire nations based solely on the fact that a majority of their people are Muslim!!

I stand with Jews, Muslims, Christians and the growing population of Bubbhists and Hindus who oppose BIGOTRY, regardless of the source.

Jewish Voice for Peace members are HEROES for speaking out so forthrightly!!

[abolaf]

10:33 AM on 01/09/2012

List of Islamic Terror attacks since 1980:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamic_terrorist_attacks

[tomofsnj]

07:50 AM on 01/10/2012

Does you have a tag to the IDF attacks on old arab woman and children? Do you think any Islamic terror attack was any worse than operation caste lead which with the butcher attack on Gaza a couple years ago?

[GZLives]

10:14 AM on 01/10/2012

Perhaps you weren't aware that Cast Lead was an IDF response to thousands of rocket attacks on Israeli civilian populations.

Had the Arabs not fired the rockets, Cast Lead would not have occurred.

And once again the Arab problem is all self created ...

[den1953]

10:22 AM on 01/09/2012

Looks like the Hatfields and the Mcoys are at it again?

[Yank in France]

12:04 PM on 01/09/2012

I respect your opinion, den, but this is not a Hatfields vs McCoy debate, since only side here as an ethnic stake in it. That said, I admit the volume is high around here but so it is on the Apple threads where you will find some real name calling! -:)

[paul delano]

12:55 PM on 01/09/2012

You're quite wrong. This is primarily a religious dispute at its core. Islam regards the entire Middle East as the Dar al Islam or Heartland of Islam. Islamic belief cannot and will not allow a non-muslim entity to exist on land in the Dar. This can be confirmed at any time by listening or reading the exhortations of muslim religious leaders to take back Israel from the Jews. Their exhortations come directly from the Koran. Only the very naive and those unschooled in islamic theology and history believe otherwise. Needless to say, that group comprises the majority of most non-muslims.

[Gui Montag]

01:00 PM on 01/09/2012

Yank I'm still waiting for you to my answer my questions from further down the thread.

[abolaf]

10:22 AM on 01/09/2012

Arab hackers thinking they can win a hacking war against the people who developed Stuxnet! LoL! What a delusional race.

[senalvingreene]

08:40 PM on 01/09/2012

AnonymousHackerGroup WAS RESPONIBLE FOR THIS HACK AND THEY HAVE SAID SO

[nomoredead]

08:31 AM on 01/09/2012

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-suspected-of-using-info-exposed-in-saudi-hack-for-credit-card-fraud-1.406148

See who is first to use the stolen card numbers...

[Yank in France]

08:55 AM on 01/09/2012

Wow!! That's incredible: thanks for the link!

[BadKitty]

09:22 AM on 01/09/2012

Some stupid kid. What's your point?

[athiesttoo]

08:29 AM on 01/09/2012

Israel will call anything terrorism and use any excuse to kill Arabs.

[BadKitty]

08:56 AM on 01/09/2012

Hamas will call anything Israelis do, including simply owning a credit card, a crime.

[Gui Montag]

10:09 AM on 01/09/2012

The Huffington Posters will call anything Israelis do, including simply owning a credit card, a crime.

[Yank in France]

12:02 PM on 01/09/2012

Actually, BadKitty, Hamas has mollified its policies quite a bit. According to a recent haaretz.com article, attacks from Gaza have reduced dramatically as Hamas actually attacks and arrests those responsible for the rocket launchings.

In any armed struggle, there is a need for discipline, although even in Vietnam, attacks on US troops continued during truce periods. Hamas has also proposed a 10-year truce based on full Israeli withdrawal from the lands occupied in 1967.

Rightists can always claim that such a period of peace and economic development would favor those who want more war in the Palestinian camp, but that argument is not at all conclusive, since people generally do not like returning to the destruction of war after having taken the time to rebuilding their homes, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure.

I am not saying that Hamas's proposal is acceptable, but they are clearly taking a very different tack than in the past.

[Scottishnproud]

12:56 PM on 01/09/2012

Muslims use every excuse to kill Muslims Jews and. Christians in the ME

Next

[ruddie]

07:33 AM on 01/09/2012

The USS Liberty was a United States Navy technical research ship, It was attacked by Israeli Air
Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy torpedo boats, on June 8, 1967, It was a sustained attack by Israel which killed dozens of American servicemen. Its never been explained very well. Israel has gotten a lot smarter about how it treats its supporters.. especially ones that write checks for them. but if this is thier root mentality you can guess how it treats what it considers its so-called enemies.

[saywhat48]

08:11 AM on 01/09/2012

That was a friendly-fire accident of the type common in every war which happened during the 1967 six-day war between israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Arabs have killed thousands of American civilians and soldiers. We know who the enemy is.

[BraveAlive]

08:19 AM on 01/09/2012

BULLLSHHHIT
-
WHAT ???
A friendly fire ?
are you NUTS ?
-
The attack lasted for TWO FREAKING HOURS
and the USS-Liberty was ATTACKED by air, sea and underwater
the Iraeli fighter jets were so low the crew of the SS.Liberty can see the ugly pilots
and the same ugly pilots can see the American flag and the LARGE name
and number of the ship
---
Ya sure... you can pull the wool over some idiot's eyes maybe... not the ones
who watched a whole documentary about it and know EXACTLY what happened
The crew of the USS.Liberty will NEVER forgive you .... Chomp

[tomofsnj]

08:32 AM on 01/09/2012

The facts are pretty clear that it was not an accident. The Israel, USA and Russia all have tapes of the conversations between the pilots, ground crew and ship captains who were involved. It would be very easy to put the matter to the final test and prove that it was an accident. The tapes of the conversation are all classified at above top secret. There is no national security issue since all the equipment is now out dated so one can only come away with the fact that they do not want the tapes and the conversations made public. No words that you can express will change the fact that they will not release these tape which would settle the issue of if the pilots knew in advance that they were dropping napalm on US Sailors. BTW my personal opinion is no air force would have their planes armed with napalm when looking for Submarines which was the first reported reason why the air craft were in the area. Maybe you can explain why fire bombs would be effect hitting a submarine?
I see little reason to talk about arabs when the topic is the Israel military attack a USS Naval ship. Why would you bring this into the conversation other than trying to change the topic? Are you a rabid zionist?

[BadKitty]

09:40 AM on 01/09/2012

This was a tragic incident with heartbreaking consequences. There are contradictions by individuals involved on BOTH sides of the story yet several facts remains clear... The Liberty did NOT receive orders to pull back from the coast. The US did NOT make the Liberty's position clear though it was asked to. The Liberty was far too close to the Israeli coast during a FULL SCALE WAR. There seems to be two versions which were pieced together after investigations by both the US and the Israelis. I find it interesting that most (not all but most) of the inflammatory versions are posted on racist and/or anti-Israel websites.

[cibersatan]

07:11 AM on 01/09/2012

Hmmmmmm............seems Israel forgot about it's introduction of Stuxnet to the Iranians and the rest of the world

[BadKitty]

09:43 AM on 01/09/2012

Prove Israel was behind it. Besides, I have no problem with industrial malware where Iran is concerned.

[cibersatan]

11:05 AM on 01/09/2012

go looking for Gabi Ashkenazi

[TimetoWakeUpAmerica2012]

06:47 AM on 01/09/2012

Israel Charged with Systematic Harassment of U.S. Marines

It was 12 years ago, on March 14, 1983, that the commandant of the Marine Corps sent a highly unusual letter to the secretary of defense expressing frustration and anger at Israel. General R.H. Barrow charged that Israeli troops were deliberately threatening the lives of Marines serving as peacekeepers in Lebanon.

[intellifran]

06:52 AM on 01/09/2012

You are a first class moron. 1983 was not 12 years ago, try 29.

[tomofsnj]

08:35 AM on 01/09/2012

The story stated 12 years when it was published today and why would the topic matter if 12 or 29 years?

'that the incidents between the Marines and the IDF are timed, orchestrated, and executed for obtuse Israeli political purposes.'

I do not believe one should call someone a moron when close to 300 US Marines ended up dead in Lebanon. The actions of Israel was a disgrace and even if they had nothing to do with the 300 dead they clearly did no help. YOu do know they rushed the US Marines to Lebanon because of the disaster Sharon created in his mad dog attack on Lebanon.

[athiesttoo]

08:43 AM on 01/09/2012

a "first class moron" now theres's a clever line.

[intellifran]

06:46 AM on 01/09/2012

Arab "studying" in Mexico. That sounds very stange.

[Wisdo]

09:09 AM on 01/09/2012

Almost as strange as Americans "making aliyah" in Israel?

[Yank in France]

09:10 AM on 01/09/2012

Why is it strange for an Arab to study in Mexico?! Arabs like to study other cultures and civilizations, regardless of what the mindless propagandists of Israel would have us believe!

The next time you come to Paris, you might try a great Italian or French restaurant, where the cook and/or owner is Arab… Ditto for Mexican, Portuguese, Chinese and other foods, cultures and interests.

[intellifran]

09:23 AM on 01/09/2012

If I am going to a restaurant that has an Arab cook, i want Arab food. I love foods from almost every culture (not a fan of Ethiopian though). Anyway, it's strange because most Saudis who have the money to send their children to study abroad pick the US or the UK.

[Gonzo36]

10:57 AM on 01/09/2012

Flagged.

[saywhat48]

06:21 AM on 01/09/2012

Arabs starting a cyberwar against Israel? Not to hard to figure out who's going to win that one. LOL