Cyber Incident Victim: Israel Securities Authority
Date:
Oct 2014
Location:
Israel
Summary
Anonymous conducted a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against multiple Israeli government websites, including the Israel Securities Authority, in protest of a Palestinian teenager's fatal shooting by Israeli forces. The operation, labeled #OpOrwahHammad, disrupted access to 43 official sites such as the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and immigration services. Hacktivists issued a public statement condemning the killing and warning of further retaliation against perceived state brutality, mirroring previous cyber campaigns targeting Israeli infrastructure during regional conflicts. The attack temporarily disabled critical online services across multiple government agencies.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On October 26, 2014, the hacktivist collective Anonymous launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against 43 Israeli government websites under the operation name #OpOrwahHammad. The attack targeted high-profile entities including the Israel Defense Forces, Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Securities Authority, Ministry of Industry and Trade, State of Israel Mail, and Israeli Immigration. Anonymous publicly claimed responsibility through a message declaring the operation's commencement, citing the killing of 14-year-old Palestinian-American Orwah Hammad by Israeli forces on October 24, 2014, in the West Bank town of Silwad as motivation. The group's statement warned the Israeli government to "Expect Us" and framed the attack as retaliation against perceived brutality toward Palestinians. Anonymous News, an affiliated channel, confirmed the cyber attack via Twitter. This incident followed Anonymous's established pattern of targeting Israeli infrastructure during periods of heightened conflict, including prior operations against Israeli servers during the Gaza bombings.
The DDoS attacks rendered the targeted websites temporarily inaccessible, disrupting public access to critical government services. While the article specifies the Securities Authority as among the impacted entities, it does not detail technical disruptions to financial markets or regulatory functions. Anonymous released a partial list of affected sites but indicated additional targets might have been compromised. No Israeli government statements, mitigation efforts, or restoration timelines are documented in the source material. The operation coincided with Anonymous's broader campaign #OpSaveGaza, which previously involved breaches of Israeli job sites and data leaks. The attack represented a continuation of hacktivist efforts to leverage cyber operations as protest tools during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though the specific duration of downtime and broader economic or operational consequences remain unreported in the available evidence.