For the first time ever , a government announced publicly that it had used straightaway deadly strong-arm military group in response to a cyberattack .
Israeli military officials announced on Sunday that it set in motion air strikes to respond to an supposed “ Hamas cyber offense against Israeli butt . ”
The exchange came amid a flurry of deadly violence between Israel and Palestinian groups in Gaza that left at least 23 Palestinians and four Israelis dead , CNNreported . The fighting began when Hamas and Islamic Jihad , two Gaza militant chemical group , fired around 600 projectiles into Israel over the weekend . On Monday , a cease - fire was reached after being brokered by Egypt and the United Nations .
Israeli soldiers walks in front of a Merkava tanks, stationed near the border with the Gaza Strip on 21 March 2025 in Mavkim, Israel.Photo: Lion Mizrahi (Getty)
The Israel Defense Force used the incident as an chance to grab the glare on Twitter : “ HamasCyberHQ.exe has been absent . ”
HamasCyberHQ.exe has been removed.pic.twitter.com/AhgKjiOqS7
— Israel Defense Forces ( @IDF)May 5 , 2019
“ Hamas no longer has cyber capabilities after our strike , ” IDF spokesperson Ronen Manelis told newsman , according to theTimes of Israel .
sooner this twelvemonth , the Russian cybersecurity ship’s company Kasperskyspotlighteda stable of Gaza - based hacking groups . Similar military campaign have beenknownfor years and some have been linked by researcher to Hamas . But it ’s not clear who was on the receiving end of this week ’s attack by Israel nor if any casualty were find as a result of this particular incident .
Israel ’s claim is noteworthy because it bestow into realness a scenario that many expert have long forebode : The habit of immediate and near tangible - metre physical military force to answer to a cyberattack .
In aninterviewwith CyberScoop , former deputy assistant writing table for insurance policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security foretell it “ inevitable ” that rockets would fly in response to cyberattacks .
“ We mistakenly tend to think that the cyber domain of a function exist apart from the physical world , but it does n’t , ” Rosenzweig , a senior fellow at R Street Institute , aver .
Beyond a loud declaration of their success , there is trivial detail available about the incident . We do n’t make out if anyone was killed and the IDF is not answering questions on the subject . We do n’t know specifics about the Hamas offensive .
A pseudonymous IDF Cyber Division commanding officer tell the Times of Israel that the cyberattack occur Saturday and was train at “ harm the quality of life of Israeli citizen . ”
The United Statestargeteda member of ISIS in 2015 in response to info warfare when Junaid Hussain , the ISIS operative sleep together as TriCk , waskilled by lagger strikefor allegedly using the internet to recruit ISIS sympathizers in the West and releasing personally identifiable info of about 1,300 U.S. armed services and government employees in an effort to endanger them .
The differentiation is that Israel ’s mortal response to the alleged Hamas hacking attempt occurred much in material clip .
“ After dealing with the cyber dimension , the Air Force apportion with it in the physical attribute , ” say IDF voice Brig . Gen. Ronen Manlis , according toZDNet . “ At this point in time , Hamas has no cyber operational capabilities . ”
Cyberwar
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