In an attack that may either be epic or inconsequential, depending on who is consulted, the ongoing conflict over Israel went digital this week when it was confirmed that the Credit Card data of 'thousands' of Israelis has been compromised. On Monday, the credit card information was briefly posted to an Israeli sports site, One.co.il, by a hacker group calling itself Group-XP. Ynet has reported that a message associated with the attack called it a "gift to the world for the New Year," one they hoped "would hurt the Zionist pocket". Soon after this, a hacker who claims to speak for the group, operating under the alias OxOmar, posted a lengthy message to PasteBay bragging about the attack.
"We have hacked a lot of Israeli servers and extracted a lot of information about Israeli people," the message boasts. "[T]heir name, address, city, zipcode, Social Security Numbers (Israeli ID numbers), mobile phone number, home phone number, credit card number (including exp year, month and CVV) and...". The message claims the information has already been put to use purchasing VPNs, renting cloud clusters and other such actions, though that activity has not been confirmed independently. If true, this is only part of a larger plan, to reach "1 million non-duplicate people, which is 1/6 of Israel's population."
"Saudi Arabian hacker rules!!!", the message inarticulately, but enthusiastically concludes.
Perhaps, perhaps not. Just how many people have been affected is a matter of stark debate. Group-XP claim to have nabbed and released the data for up to 400,000 people. Israel's central bank puts the number closer to 15,000, a trivial number considering the total amount of credit card fraud that happens on a daily basis worldwide, but a mediocrity consistent with the lazy, racist terminology associated with the attack. Neither the means by which the hack occurred nor the total amount of data compromised can be confirmed, but credit card providers claim that all affected cards have been cancelled and that replacements will be provided.
