Islamic Jihad says hacked Israeli websites
London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper quotes statement by al-Quds Brigades saying group's 'electronic surveillance unit' defaced 'Zionist websites'
Islamic Jihad operatives have been able to hack into several Israeli websites, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Sunday.
"The electronic surveillance unit of the media warfare division has been able to hack into several Israeli websites and take them over," said a statement by the al-Quds Brigades, quoted by the paper.
According to the report, the operatives were able to plant images of Hassan Shakura, the former head of the Jihad's media warfare division in Gaza, who was killed by the IDF, on the sites; along with other images and Jihad videos.
Hacking "Zionist websites," said the statement "was part of our response to the elimination of the head of the media warfare office in Gaza, as well as a token of our allegiance to the blood of our troops.
The organization promised to "continue the pursuit of all Israeli websites and hack them in response to Israel's crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank."
A Ynet probe has revealed at least two websites hacked by the Islamic Jihad – the Kfar Truman and the "High-Tech Motors Body-Shop" websites.
As announced in the Jihad's statement, both sites were plagued by images of Shakura alive and images of his funeral, as well as threats reading "The shahid commander Hassan Shakura, who was responsibale for media warfare is dead, but he has left many friends behind, ready to carry on his work.
"This is our message to you pigs," continued the threat, "Hassan's missiles will come after you in Sderot and Ashkelon, the retaliation is coming."
Website defacement of this nature requires only basic programming know-how and usually boils down to changing the main page – a file easy to reconstruct.
Smaller sites are the ones most vulnerable to defacement, since large sites, databases and electronic commerce website usually have high-level security systems at their disposal.
A statement by any terror group pointing to a unit dedicated to defacing websites does not necessarily indicate any operational sophistication, since any teenager with basic programming skills can do the same.
