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A hacker group attacked the websites of Israel’s national mail service and major banks Friday, briefly bringing them down in an assault seemingly timed to coincide with a day of Iranian-promoted anti-Israel events.
The attack was quickly squelched, authorities said, with apparently no significant harm or data leaks, though the websites of two telecoms and more banks later went down, indicating that the cyber assault was not over.
The attack was claimed by a group of hackers that goes by “Anonymous Sudan,” according to Hebrew media reports, citing a telegram message posted by the shadowy collective.
The attacks only caused “occasional interruptions,” it said.
“The attempts are limited to marketing websites and are unrelated to the bank’s internal systems,” it said.
A short time later the websites for the Hot cable service provider and 012 mobile carrier went down, with the group claiming responsibility for those as well.
Demonstrators in the Iranian capital marched on Friday from 10 different directions to Tehran University’s campus, where the ceremony ended in time for Friday noon prayers.
Iranian state TV showed footage of similar rallies in other cities and towns across the country. Many demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and the banner of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. Demonstrators in some places set fire to American and Israeli flags, as well as effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hackers have used the occasion of Quds Day to attack Israeli institutions in the past.
In recent months, “Anonymous Sudan” has claimed several short-lasting attacks on government services, healthcare and other operations in European countries. Some experts have speculated they may be linked to Russia’s Killnet hacking group rather than Sudan.
It often claims to target places in retaliation for anti-Muslim activity.
On Wednesday, the group took down the websites of hospitals in Hyderabad, India using a distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack, which temporarily overwhelms a website’s servers.
