Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
Anonymous and its Cyberwar Against Israel
November 20, 2012
I have come to the conclusion that we are unlikely ever again to see conventional warfare unaccompanied by cyberwarfare.
As CNN reported, Anonymous has declared a cyberwar against Israel for its "barbaric, brutal and despicable" treatment of the Palestinians. Since the violence began last Wednesday, the cyberattacks have ramped up though the news media seems to offer mixed commentary about their effectiveness.
Most of the attacks have been denial of service attacks, but certainly some data has been posted to the Web and some passwords leaked. Israel said on Sunday that it had been hit with 44 million cyberattacks.
Anonymous is calling the attacks #OpIsrael.
Gismodo's Sam Biddle wrote on Monday, "Today, Anon lacks the talent and semi-cohesion it once boasted across the net, and its most recent online crusade is an embarrassing reminder. This is less a war than the hacker equivalent of egging someone's house and then smoking weed behind a Denny's."
Taking down and defacing websites certainly doesn't hold a candle to the loss of human life, but this is a disjointed effort to date. And the Israeli defenses seem to be pretty solid. As a point of interest, Israel has said that most of the attacks are coming from the U.S. and Europe, not from Arab countries.
If you're interested in learning more about how Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system works, one of the more fascinating tangents to this story, there is a good overview of it here.
Thanks to Terry Dexter for passing several articles my way as I was collecting information.
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