14 DAY TRIAL // The Palestinian Authority (PA) revealed that cybercriminals launched an attack on the main phone network in Gaza and West Bank.
According to The Hacker News, the attack has multiple origins spread around the world. The Palestinian Telecoms Minister claimed that servers from Germany, Slovenia and China were identified as being behind the hit, but there is no certainty on who are the ones responsible for the operation.
Some suggest that the hit might have something to do with the fact that the PA successfully acquired membership in Unesco recently. The attack might also be linked to the recent bloody battles that took place between Israel and Gaza, each side retaliating with their most menacing weapons.
"Israel could be involved as it announced yesterday that it was considering the kind of sanctions it would impose on us," said Mashour Abou Daqqa, the Telecoms Minister.
This wouldn't be the first time when the battle between Palestine and Israel is handled in the virtual environment as hackers take such opportunities as major victories against the people they consider being the enemy.
Not long ago, it was the other way around, when Israeli web hosting servers were taken down by a couple of hackers who claimed they were doing it for the freedom of Palestine. At the time the attack targeted a large number of websites which were defaced, but it was nothing so serious as in this case.
Vulnerabilities can be found in almost any website or server and cybercriminals, especially those who have a good reason, will do anything in their power to take them down to discredit their owners. The bigger the authority they crack, the bigger is their victory.
On one hand, virtual wars would be a much better solution than physical battles in which a lot of innocent people are killed and lives are ruined.