14 DAY TRIAL // The cyberwar between hackers supporting the Palestinian cause and their Israel sympathizing counter-parts continues. After compromising thousands of Israeli websites, the Jihad attackers have moved on to targeting high profile sites that belong to the U.S. military or NATO.
Four websites belonging to the United States Army's Military District of Washington (MDW-currently offline), have been defaced by a Turkish hacker affiliated with a group called “Peace Crew.” The attacker, who identified himself as Agd_Scorp, has posted threatening messages in English. “Stop attacks u Israel and USA! You cursed nations! One day Muslims will clean the world from you!,” the pages displayed.
The website of the Joint Force Headquarters, National Capital Region (JFH-NCR-currently offline), of the Northern Command has also been defaced by Agd_Scorp, and the same message has been posted along with the image of a Palestinian throwing a rock at a tank. In addition, the same attacker also hacked the websites of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) and UNICEF Italy, in order to express his support for Palestine.
Gary Warner, the director of research in computer forensics at University of Alabama at Birmingham, reports that “Peace Crew” have been calling themselves “Terrorist Crew” until just recently. They are responsible for defacing numerous high profile websites belonging to the likes of Harvard University, Microsoft, ESET, the NBA, and other world-renowned companies including, but not being limited to, Shell, Mercedes Benz, Subaru, Fiat, Pirelli, Goodyear, Chevrolet, Alfa Romeo, Mitsubishi, and Peugeot.
Even though the security breaches resulted only in the spread of propaganda, the fact that the websites of such influential and important organizations that people tend to trust are vulnerable is very concerning. For example, the activity of the JFHQ-NCR is to monitor “security requirements, coordinating with the military services, the Department of Homeland Security, and local first responders in identifying capabilities the military can provide, in case of an emergency or National Special Security Event,” according to its website, previously to the defacement.
“The fact remains that, as the hackers were able to tamper with these sites’ webpages, they could have easily planted malicious code onto the pages designed to infect unwary visitors,” Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, warns. Security experts also notify that, as the Gaza conflict continues, the frequency of such incidents will increase, and more high profile websites will be targeted.