Multiple Israeli websites were targeted in a coordinated cyber attack Thursday, with the home pages replaced with the images of Israel’s demise. The attack impacted thousands of websites, including some belonging to major firms, political groups and other organizations and individuals, local media reported.
More than 2,000 websites are believed to be defaced, many of them were hosted on uPress, a local Israeli WordPress hosting service. According to the reports, attackers published an anti-Israeli message on the homepage of compromised sites and attempted to inject a malware seeking permission to access visitors’ webcams.
In a message posted on Facebook, the hosting provider confirmed the attack and said the the hackers have exploited a vulnerability in a WordPress plugin. The company said that it was working with Israeli authorities to investigate the hack. uPress also took down all defaced websites and pulled the file hackers were exploiting.
The attack was reportedly carried out by a group calling itself the “Hackers of Saviour.” The group is describing itself as a crew seeking on avenging Israel’s policy on the Palestinian situation.
Despite some Israeli news outlets placing the blame for the hack on Iranian hackers, there is no concrete evidence Iranian government’s involvement.