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Hacktivist groups have united to attack Israeli civilian and defence infrastructure in the wake of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel and the Israeli Defense Force’s retaliation efforts.
“Our brothers and main allies from Sudan support our initiative by joining us and our company against the Israeli regime!” pro-Russian hacking collective Killnet said today (9 October) in a post on its Telegram channel.
The previous evening, Killnet made its motivation for targeting Israel clear in another Telegram post.
“Government of Israel, you are to blame for this bloodshed,” Killnet said. “Back in 2022, you supported the terrorist regime of Ukraine. You betrayed Russia. Today Killnet officially informs you about it! All Israeli government systems will be subject to our attacks!”
Anonymous Sudan – also pro-Russian in its outlook and long thought to be Russian-backed – also began sharing Killnet’s posts while also talking up its own activity targeting Israeli alert systems.
“We are currently targeting some critical endpoints in the alert systems of Israel, which may affect the Iron Dome,” Anonymous Sudan wrote about two hours after the initial Killnet post. “Glory to the Palestinian Resistance, we are with you.”
Anonymous Sudan is also claiming to have disrupted Israel’s Tzeva Adom early warning radar system. This operates in the Gaza Strip and its surrounds (including the city of Sderot, which has seen heavy fighting) to warn civilians of incoming rocket attacks.
“All alert applications in Israel are down,” Anonymous Sudan said in a post. Tzeva Adom is Hebrew for “red colour”.
The hacking collective has also targeted the Jerusalem Post news service, taking its website down with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The site is down as of the time of writing.
However, while Anonymous Sudan is clearly targeting civilian infrastructure, Killnet has declared just the opposite.
“If we oppose the government of Israel, this does not mean that we are going against ordinary citizens of this country,” Killnet said in a later Telegram post. “The Israeli regime sold itself to the NATO whore, the same main terrorist, with the slogan of PEACE and DEFENSE!”
“The atrocities that Hamas or Israel commit against civilians are terrible!” the post went on to say. “We exclude the possibility of attacking the critical infrastructure of both sides! Our goal is the pro-NATO government of Israel (believe me, there are not many of them left anymore)!”
“Our brothers and sisters are all civilians and peaceful residents of Israel!” Killnet said.
Anonymous Sudan has previously targeted Israel’s early warning systems, according to reporting by The Times of Israel. These attempts began in May 2023 during another round of rocket attacks, this time by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Anonymous Sudan – with the assistance of the Iranian Asa Musa hacking group – managed to take down some websites associated with various alert systems, but not the early warning systems themselves.
“There will be rockets and cyber attacks at the same time,” a person claiming to be an Iranian hacker told early warning app Cumta at the time. Days later, residents of the town of Gedera received false rocket alerts, which led to the Israeli military leaders telling residents they should reinstall the apps that deliver such warnings.
At the time, Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system failed to intercept some rockets, and Anonymous Sudan quickly claimed responsibility.
“All 22 missiles hit their targets without any interceptions immediately after our attack. This is unprecedented,” the group said at the time, as reported by The Times of Israel. The military instead said it was a technical malfunction.
A raft of other hacking groups have also begun targeting Israeli organisations. The Moroccan Black Cyber Army has launched DDoS attacks against the Israel Tax Authority and the Israel stock exchange, as well as an Israel-based anti-occupation publication.
Meanwhile, the Legion group has struck a string of Israeli financial institutions with DDoS attacks, while Team Insane PK – a Pakistani group – has targeted the ministries of health and education.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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