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Hacktivism Erupts In Response To Hamas-Israel War (techcrunch.com) 340

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Several groups of hacktivists have targeted Israeli websites with floods of malicious traffic following a surprise land, sea and air attack launched against Israel by militant group Hamas on Saturday, which prompted Israel to declare war and retaliate. Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that since Saturday morning its website was down "due to a series of cyberattacks initiated against us." At the time of writing, the paper's website still appeared down.

Rob Joyce, director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency, reportedly said at a conference on Monday that there have been denial of service (DDoS) attacks and defacements of websites, without attributing the cyberattacks to particular groups. "But we're not yet seeing real [nation] state malicious actors," Joyce reportedly said. [...] Joyce's remarks appear to confirm findings of security researcher Will Thomas, who told TechCrunch that he has seen more than 60 websites taken down with DDoS attacks, and more than five websites that were defaced as of Monday.

It is common for hacktivist groups to launch cyberattacks during armed conflict, similar to what happened in Ukraine. These hackers are often not affiliated with any governments but rather a decentralized group of politically motivated hackers. Their activities can disrupt websites and services, but are far more limited compared to the activities of nation-state hacking groups. Researchers and government agencies like the NSA say they have only seen activity by hacktivists so far in this Hamas-Israel conflict.
"The thing that has surprised me about the hacktivism surrounding this conflict is the amount of international groups involved, such as those allegedly from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Morocco all also targeting Israel in support of Palestine," said Thomas. "We also seen long-time threat actors returning who have participated in attacks and spread them using the hashtag #OpIsrael for years."

"I have seen several posts of cybercriminal service operators such as DDoS-for-Hire or Initial Access Brokers offering their services to those wanting to target Israel or Palestine," he added.
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Hacktivism Erupts In Response To Hamas-Israel War

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 09, 2023 @04:24PM (#63913141)

    Hamas is targeting civilians. They have murdered hundreds, tortured untold numbers, and kidnapped scores.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Desperate people take desperate actions. Israel has been swiping their land and cutting off commerce. Bibi is a fucking bully.

      • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @05:04PM (#63913247)

        Bibi is an a-hole, but Yitzak Rabin and Ehud Barak were not.

        Barak offered the Palestinians a comprehensive deal that would be unimaginable today, and they responded by launching the 2nd Intifada.

        • Skip peace deals (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @06:30PM (#63913481) Journal

          Forget the fucking peace deals, Just give their 1966 land back. In a generation or two they'll calm down. The angry frothers will eventually die off.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            Forget the fucking peace deals, Just give their 1966 land back. In a generation or two they'll calm down. The angry frothers will eventually die off.

            I think that train left the station long ago ... never to return.

        • by Whateverthisis ( 7004192 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @06:41PM (#63913517)
          This.

          It's hard to take the Palestinians seriously. I get their situation sucks, but they've been spouting a thoroughly crafted narrative so long they actually believe their own propaganda.

          1) Palestinians were never a people; they're not an ethnic group, they're just Arabs that lived in the area. First under the Ottomans (not a fun life) then under the British when the British took over during WW1 (not a fun life) then handed to the Egyptians to manage of all things (not a fun life) who used it as a staging area to invade Israel, so then Israel cut it off and blockaded it during the Six Day War and has held it as an occupier for 50 years (not a fun life). So where is the Palestinian outrage at the Ottomans (dead) or British (gone)?

          2) More importantly, where is the Palestinian outrage against Egypt? Because Israel maintains the blockade, but so does Egypt. Egypt doesn't want to deal with them either and keeps them bottled up too. Yes Israel is the biggest part of this but Egypt is a big contributor to the Gaza strip issues; they have no interest in solving the problems there. And yet it's all Israel's fault from the Palestinian perspective.

          3) and what about Iran? Iran trained them for this. Iran uses them for their own domestic politics: keep that in mind. Persians and Arabs have been at each others throats for centuries, they practice very different and incompatible versions of Islam, and yet these Palestinian youths invaded and died in Israel to further Iran's domestic politics?

          The problem with Palestine is no one wants them, no one wants to help them, and anyone claiming to help them would gladly let thousands or tens of thousands of Palestinians die to inflame their own population to win the next domestic election. At some point they as a people need to realize that they are and always will be pawns until they choose to stop being pawns and figure out a way to live without fighting the Israelis. Only then will there be a peace.

          • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @06:52PM (#63913547)

            where is the Palestinian outrage against Egypt?

            There's plenty of Palestinian outrage against Egypt. Hamas is part of the Muslim Brotherhood [wikipedia.org], which is the mortal enemy of the current Egyptian government. They back the Sinai insurgency [wikipedia.org] and do bombings and assassinations in Cairo.

            • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

              That would be because the common term used for Palestinians across the Arab world is "rats". They're almost universally hated.

              This doesn't change the fact even people with such an awful reputation will be supported in their righteous war against the kuffar.

            • Then why didn't they cross the border into Egypt, hit Egyptian military sites and kill Egyptian civilians and take Egyptian hostages?

              Because Iran has no bone to pick with Egypt that's why. I watched the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK state the same old propagandistic story [youtube.com] about Israel. What about Egypt? What about Iran? What about Jordan who butchered Palestinian refugees in Jordan when they, stupidly, rose up against Jordan who was trying to help them during Black September? What about the Saud

              • Then why didn't they cross the border into Egypt, hit Egyptian military sites and kill Egyptian civilians and take Egyptian hostages?

                Because they already have people operating inside Egypt.

                Heck, from 2012 to 2013, they were running Egypt: Mohamed Morsi [wikipedia.org].

                MBS ... make a peace with Israel (which is what this is all about)?

                MBS wants Israel as an ally against Iran. The enemy of his enemy is now his friend.

          • by Pseudonym ( 62607 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @08:44PM (#63913771)

            It's hard to take the Palestinians seriously.

            If it helps, consider that Hamas did not win a majority of the vote in the last election, which was held in 2006. (Although, admittedly, they got a higher vote than Likud did in the last Israeli election...)

            It can be simultaneously true that the current Israeli government is an oppressive settler-colonial regime, and Hamas are straight up terrorists. It can be simultaneously true that neither the Israeli nor the Palestinian "leadership" have a clear democratic mandate.

            • Oh everyone's got mud on their face over there. But the big issue to me is how much they hate Israel when Egypt has done nothing to try and get them back, in fact they are an active contributor to the blockade and the problems. That just shows their justification for attacking Israel is a weak argument; something else is in play. That something else is other people's politics which makes the Palestinians unpredictable and untrustworthy. Israel has their issues, but they are consistent with their position
              • by Pseudonym ( 62607 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @10:25PM (#63913929)

                The thing that I don't get is why anyone thinks "the Israelis" or "the Palestinians" are homogenous. The vast majority of citizens of both areas are just people who want to be left alone to live their lives.

                I miss the days of Rabin and Arafat.

                By the way, I don't understand the "Palestinians were never a people" argument. Neither were "Canadians". Hell, it's part of Russia's official line about Ukraine. I'm highly dubious about what role ethnostates should play in the 21st century. They are, at best, a hack to try to get a peace deal now

                Surely the end goal of any 21st century country is to be multi-ethnic and multi-cultural.

                • by sfcat ( 872532 )
                  They are part of the larger Arab group, not a separate group like say the Kurds. That's what they mean. Also, nobody in that region is trying to be multi-cultural. Just saying...
                  • by Phact ( 4649149 )

                    Actually Palestinians do have a subtly distinct culture, different than other Arabs. You can see it partially in the scarves and head dresses they wear. Other Arabs don't wear the same getup. They're small differences true, but it's there.

          • This.

            It's hard to take the Palestinians seriously. I get their situation sucks, but they've been spouting a thoroughly crafted narrative so long they actually believe their own propaganda.

            1) Palestinians were never a people; they're not an ethnic group, they're just Arabs that lived in the area. First under the Ottomans (not a fun life) then under the British when the British took over during WW1 (not a fun life) then handed to the Egyptians to manage of all things (not a fun life) who used it as a staging area to invade Israel, so then Israel cut it off and blockaded it during the Six Day War and has held it as an occupier for 50 years (not a fun life). So where is the Palestinian outrage at the Ottomans (dead) or British (gone)?

            This narrative always bugs me. Who are you to declare that someone isn't a legitimate group? Are you going to declare Ukrainians not a group next? Or are they on the other side of your "counts as a people" line?

            Maybe they didn't identify as a group back in 1900, but surely they've been through enough together that they've built their own identity.

            As to the Ottomans and British, sure not having self-rule sucks, but there's a difference between being part of someone else's empire and being colonized.

            • That's kind of like saying that everybody who was at ground zero on 9/11 are a distinct group. I mean, I guess you can say that, but not really. They were Jordanians until Jordan renounced its sovereignty over the area and gave it to the PLO. Palestine itself wasn't even a distinct region until the league of nations mandate at the end of WWI establishing a British colony there. Notice how it has straight, angular borders everywhere there isn't a landmark like a mountain or a river? That's because it was a p

          • "Palestinians were never a people; they're not an ethnic group, they're just Arabs that lived in the area."

            What the hell does that mean? Texas was just "white people that lived in the area", they weren't a "people", what do you mean, sure they have their own distinct culture apart from the people governing them, but it's not a special culture so meh?

        • by lsllll ( 830002 )
          Rabin's Oslo Peace Process was the holy grail Palestine needed. Arafat had signed it. It was a done deal. It's still a done deal. But a right-wing extremist went and assassinated Rabin and the whole thing fell apart. Years later Barak's offer at Camp David had rescinded must of the Oslo Accord offerings. Of course the offering is unimaginable today, because both sides are asking for more, but I think you're trivializing the reasons for the 2nd Intifada. Israel ramped up its settlement building and d
        • People like Bibi motivated a crazy person who shall go nameless with genocidal, racist rhetoric to assassinate Rabin to prevent peace. In the days preceding Rabin's murder, his political foes called for his murder and caricatured him as a Nazi. [pellcenter.org]

          The Combatant Clergy Association [wikipedia.org] and Hamas just handed Bibi actually what he always wanted: Hamas "wins" by killing Israelis, which leads to Bibi "winning" by killing even more Palestinians. Moderates, peace-makers, and civilians on all sides are stuck with the after

          • by lsllll ( 830002 )
            It's sad that not too many people see things like that. As much as everyone complains about the "right" in the U.S., then tend to just support Israel unequivocally. Take Biden, for instance, who is a staunch supporter of Israel. As long as the U.S. turns a blind eye to atrocities happening over there nothing is going to change. Even when U.S. gets in line with the international rhetoric re: new settlements Israel keeps building, it doesn't do anything about them. As a matter of fact, we continue to con [bbc.com]
      • by pandaman9000 ( 520981 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @06:02PM (#63913407)

        So.... According to what's said so far-

        Israel:
        Swiping land. Cutting off commerce.

        Not go in and recapture land and/or take things you need to survive?

        Palestinians (HAMAS/etc terrorists from adjacent countries like Iran):

        Murder, rape and torture. Civilians. In a cowardly surprise attack.

        Just wow.
        One of these is not even close to equivalent.

        That "Bully" could have made Gaza a parking lot. So the answer is to try hard to ratchet things up?

      • by rossz ( 67331 ) <ogreNO@SPAMgeekbiker.net> on Monday October 09, 2023 @07:00PM (#63913557) Journal

        Basically, you are defending the murder of children and the rape of women because "they had it coming".

    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @07:24PM (#63913599)

      Yes, they're acting exactly as early iron age culture that is Islamic culture dictates. You raid your enemy's soft supply lines, capture hostages to be traded for bullion, rape and torture their women and children to demoralize them and display your spoils to your own to uplift morale.

      Fun part: none of what Hamas did is considered haram in Islam. Most of what they did, such as rape and torture of women taken as slaves is directly following in the steps of The Prophet, peace be upon him. This is why Islamic world has been quite united in lack of any condemnation at best, and open support as noted in things like one in OP or all the celebratory demonstrations among muslims around the world including those with multiple generations of living in the West at worst.

      For those that don't know, Islamic nations actually have their own version of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that specifically notes that any rights declared are void if allowed in Islamic tradition and law. They do not recognize rights like the right of non-muslim slave women taken on a raid to not be raped, tortured and killed by the raiders. Can't, as The Prophet, peace be upon him, did just that. And he is the Perfect Man in Islamic tradition, to be emulated in everything he did.

      It's why ISIS used the same methods, even in African and Central Asian cultures.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2023 @04:50AM (#63914403) Homepage Journal

        They are acting like a people that has been invaded and occupied for decades. While nothing excuses attacks on civilians, nothing excuses annexing Palestine and then blockading and bombing it so that the people there can never get back on their feet.

        For this to end it needs both sides to negotiate peace, or for one side to commit genocide. Netanyahu seems to be working towards the latter, and this attack by Hamas was a gift to him.

  • by DeplorableCodeMonkey ( 4828467 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @04:29PM (#63913151)

    Hamas: (Reeeeeeing about occupation, human rights violations, etc.)
    Also Hamas: Invades Israel, primarily slaughters unarmed civilians particularly shooting up an international peace music festival, carts off a bunch of underage girls to be sex slaves and was last seen turning the corpse of a German woman into a hunting trophy on the back of a pickup.

    Yes, Israel commits human rights violations. No, they do not act like 7th century desert-dwelling, nomadic bandits with regard to things like mass rape and sexual slavery of women and even little girls in occupied lands.

    We should take note of the populations dancing in the streets at this barbarism and pencil them out of the Geneva Conventions.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      It's more telling the people for whom it's okay under some circumstances to rape, kill, and torture civilians. There's no need to "understand" these animals.

      What goes on in the heads of people who think it's "understandable", even for threatening to rape and kill, is beyond me.
    • Not too eager to get involved in other people's battles. A pox on all their houses. The whole mess started with the US throwing its weight around to get cheap oil out of the ME because the Soviets had become a nonentity. Before that, we were smart enough to stay more-or-less out of the Arab-Israeli wars. So it's 30 years later and we're back to being constrained by world events again.

      I don't care who is right because no one is.

      • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @04:51PM (#63913205)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • The whole mess started with the US throwing its weight around

          The US didn't start the Arab-Israeli conflict.

          If you want to blame a Western Power, blame the British for their actions during the Palestine Mandate [wikipedia.org] but even that is a gross oversimplification of history.

          So it's 30 years later and we're back to being constrained by world events again.

          Yeah, that's what happens in a globally connected world. The world is both too big and too small for isolationism to remain tenable. What happened here are war crimes. What's happening in Ukraine are war crimes. I'm generally pretty skeptical of Israel and I loathe their current government but I'm going to root for them and support the US helping them here, they're fighting people that literally went door to door killing civilians. Ditto Ukraine. If this is allowed to stand I don't think anyone is going to like the world that will result and it's only a matter of time before we get sucked in anyway. Better in Ukraine/Israel than NATO/North America.

          Blame the Ottoman Empire for collapsing and leaving the Middle East in a 'dark ages'.
          They weren't even set up to govern themselves, when the Ottomans left it just descended into shit and anarchy.

          But the USA, they do like to foment chaos wherever they can. Even after WW1, when Italy was on the side of the 'Allies' and wanted some of their territory back from the Austro-Hungarians, which was part of the deal to keep them onside, the USA stopped that just to fuck with Italy and help Mussolini and the Fascists.

          • by sfcat ( 872532 )

            But the USA, they do like to foment chaos wherever they can.

            WTF? Are you serious? If the US disappeared into a puff of logic tomorrow, in 3 weeks time war would be at your doorstep, tankie. And despite what your fantasies of it might be, I assure you that war is hell and nothing else. The US is one of the few stabling powers in the current world order and that's who you blame for this mess? Seriously? Not religion, not Islam, not European colonialism, not the NAZI and the holocaust, not lazy European diplomats, not selfish other Arab powers only concerned with

      • The whole mess started with the US throwing its weight around to get cheap oil out of the ME

        No, not at all. Israel is not an oil exporter. American support for Israel has strained relations with Arab petrostates and triggered the 1973 embargo and the formation of OPEC. It definitely wasn't done for cheap oil.

      • I don't care who is right

        That much is obvious enough.

    • If you hold the belief that the Geneva Conventions should be withheld from people who's attitude you don't like, then you missed the point.

      • The Geneva Conventions require the participants to wear uniforms and not target civilians. They disqualified themselves.
    • Yep. Terrorism doesn't win hearts, minds, or political capital. It just makes them look like medieval, dangerous, crazy idiots who need to be drone strike'd.

      There are a million other nonviolent ways to take power away from Likud hardliners without killing anyone, but this just gave mountains of power to them instead.

  • These hackers are often not affiliated with any governments but rather a decentralized group of politically motivated hackers.

    In other words, idiots.

    Pop culture tells them to hate Israel and blame it for being attacked. So they do. Such rebels ...

  • by Bobknobber ( 10314401 ) on Monday October 09, 2023 @05:50PM (#63913377)

    Regardless of where you stand, no one can deny that the redline of redlines has been crossed.
    Palestinians are fed up with living in the glorified prison state that is Gaza, getting periodically used as target practice by the IDF.
    The Israelis are realizing that the existence of Gaza will continue to pose a major problem to their state.
    Meanwhile foreign powers have continued to arm and poke both sides into this conflict.

    And so now it is looking likely that the Israelis are going to finish not only Hamas off, but the entire Gaza Strip as well. Over 2 million people stuck between the sea, a wall, and an Egypt likely unwilling to accept refugees.

    People here are overlooking the obvious fact that is going to be a bloodbath regardless of who wins. And naturally the civilians of both sides will suffer the most out of this shit show. For all the talk of genocide in Ukraine, what will happen in Gaza is going to make that look like an afternoon picnic.

    • Palestinians are fed up with living in the glorified prison state that is Gaza, getting periodically used as target practice by the IDF.

      Then perhaps they should stop lobbing missiles.
      • I would say the same to the Israelis.
        In any case though both sides should ideally cease shooting at one another. But the grievances are too deep at this point for them to come to the negotiation table.

        And I should remind you that there are plenty of Palestinians who want nothing to do with this ongoing blood feud. Same with many Israelis and the greater Jewish population.

        Unfortunately both sides have been cursed with leadership that are dead set on their maximalist gains, casualties or no.

  • What Hamas did was so over the top barbaric and evil I thought Israelis would at least earn themselves some sympathy / reprieve in terms of global public opinion.

    After all writing seems to be on the wall that Gaza is bloody doomed and at the very least tens of thousands of people should expect to be dead by Israeli retaliation in short order... you would think activists would at least keep their powder dry for a week or two until the Israelis inevitably do something particularly deserving of their ire.

    • by Tailhook ( 98486 )

      I thought Israelis would at least earn themselves some sympathy / reprieve in terms of global public opinion.

      The silver lining that emerges when things go kinetic is the rapid dispelling of this sort of naivety.

  • https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/0... [cnbc.com]
    Reminds me of China's 9/11 in 2014 when Uyghur separatists attacked the Kunming Rail station

    The assailants killed 31 people and injured 143 (including seven policemen). Two security guards employed by the station were among the dead.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
    Israel's death toll is a lot higher, let's hope they don't overreact to this like China did.

    • by sfcat ( 872532 )
      Those two situations aren't really the same at all. And Israel has had dozens of 9/11s.
  • And everything will be all peachy.

  • Israel now has the excuse they need to do what a great many of them have wanted for a long time... to raze the place. But there is no good outcome here for them. Hamas will have won, even with their own annihilation in hand. Whatever moral high ground others ascribed to Israel over the last 50 years dissolves into a "might makes right" transactional form of vengeance. Nobody can blame them for it... but everybody will evaluate the revealed nature of Israel for themselves, and I doubt that reconsideration is

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