Anti-Israel hackers have released troves of classified data: Haaretz

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - Anti-Israel hackers have released extensive amounts of classified data amid Israel’s struggle to contain leaks, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Tuesday.

The leaks, according to the newspaper, involve tens of thousands of sensitive documents and emails stolen from Israeli institutions, including the Justice Ministry.

The attacks, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, have targeted a wide range of entities, from military and defense contractors to hospitals and government ministries. The scale of the breach has overwhelmed Israel’s cybersecurity infrastructure.

“The true extent of the damage to Israel’s security and economy caused by these leaks is not yet fully known,” a source close to the investigation revealed. “Despite massive investment in defensive cybersecurity measures, the scale of the leaks is likely the most severe in Israel's history -- an unprecedented looting of gigabytes upon gigabytes of information of all sorts."

The leaked data has appeared on platforms like Telegram, prompting a series of takedown attempts by Israeli authorities. However, Telegram’s limited moderation policies have complicated these efforts.

“Telegram emerged at the start of the war as a key platform utilized by Hamas' information warfare against Israel, one Israel was unable to properly address, lacking both monitoring capabilities and an understanding of the platform,” Haaretz reported.

Israeli has sought to mitigate the damage through legal measures and direct negotiations with tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Meta. Yet the hackers have adapted by using decentralized hosting services and "onion domains" which obscure the source of the data and hinder takedown efforts.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

The conflict has resulted in over 40,170 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and more than 92,740 injuries, according to local health authorities.

The ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.