Cyber Intifada: The Digital warriors of Arabia

[Matthew Gaylor]

Source: The Star, Jordan
Type: Web Pointer; Web Sample
Date: 14 December 2000
Title: Cyber Intifada: The Digital warriors of Arabia

TEXT:

    The Star: Jordan's Politicial, Economic and Cultural Weekly
    http://www.star.com.jo/
    Nov (2 - 8) 2000, Issue No. 20

    06 - Dec - 2000 /02:32 PM G

    INTERFACE: Digital warriors of Arabia

    IT'S OFFICIAL: The Internet is the latest battleground. If you've been
    reading the news recently, you will probably have noticed reports on
    website hack-attacks between Arab and Israeli users.

    Nov 05, 2000, 04:42 PM

    BY ZEID NASSER

      JORDAN (Star) - IT'S OFFICIAL: The Internet is the latest
    battleground. If you've been reading the news recently, you will
    probably have noticed reports on website hack-attacks between Arab and
    Israeli users.

    It started last week, with an Israeli attack on the Hezbollah website
    (www.hizbollah.com), by which hackers crashed the site's server by
    flooding it with requests. It was an organized effort, carried out by
    several hackers.

    A news report stated that the attack on Hezbollah's site was first
    initiated by a message that was circulated over the ICQ instant
    messaging service. The message urged users to help their "Israeli
    friends" take the Hezbollah site down by using a ping command on their
    PCs. Throughout the day, Israeli users plotted their attack, and
    implemented it.

    Later in the week, a number of Israeli government sites were attacked,
    including the site of the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's
    website. It became quite apparent that this would be the beginning of
    a wave of attacks and counter attacks, pitting the hacking skills of
    Arabs against the skills of Israelis.

    Reports began to emerge that all sorts of Arabic and Israeli websites
    were crashing under attack. Political, academic and even entertainment
    sites were coming under attack.

    The Amman-based news portal, albawaba.com, got hit by a flood of
    pro-Israeli messages on one of its discussion forums, which resulted
    in the political forum being closed down until the technicians
    diverted the messages and reopened it. On the other hand a newspaper
    reported, in detail, how an Arab hacker, who calls himself Dodi,
    succeeded in "defacing the Netanya Academy site in Israel, leaving a
    message that attacked Israel and the US and criticized Arab
    governments. The activist said he would carry on with his attacks
    until the whole Internet backbone in Israel was down." Obviously,
    there are enough Arab Internet users out there to counter attack. In
    fact, if numbers count in this new web- war, Israeli sites will
    probably be worried at the potential Arab Internet population! So, the
    skirmishes continue and are set to go on, with more dangerous
    prospects emerging as the networks of governments, and large private
    corporations may become more vulnerable.

    Hackers seeking to cause maximum damage will target public records,
    which should be easily accessible over the web soon, due to the
    adoption of the concept of e-government. That's quite frightening.
    Opening up some of the government's computer networks to 'outsider'
    access could compromise the security of government records and result
    in all sorts of damage.

    Citizens like you and me will be pleased to enjoy the convenience of
    applying for a license online, but 'nasty' hackers will jump to the
    opportunity of delving into this e-government server, and finding out
    how far they can get into the government's other networks through it!
    So, apart from Internet warfare, there is the somewhat more worrying
    aspect of security breaches in government Intranets.

    The issue here is whether there is enough security to prevent the
    possibility of any harm being done by an intelligent, motivated
    hacker. If the hacker is the 'enemy', then who knows what kind of
    remorseless data theft and data destruction will be carried out.

    Apart from the damage done, the downtime will frustrate the network
    users, just like 39,000 Microsoft employees were locked out of the
    company network this week due to a hack attack! Contrary to the
    'patriotic' nature of recent hacking incidents in the Middle East,
    hacking cases tend to be corporate crime incidents. That kind of
    hacking will soon be happening in our region too.

    However, for now, the hackers are using their skills for patriotic
    purposes; seeking vengeance for crimes committed against the
    Palestinian people. Some people are calling them the 'secret
    warriors'.

    I like to think of them as the digital warriors of Arabia, in a
    battleground that transcends the traditional limitations of state
    borders. What we are witnessing now is just the beginning. One thing
    is for sure, there's more to come!


              ) The Star 2000-2001 A premier partner of arabia.com

    Text accessible online at
    http://www.star.com.jo/article/0,5596,16_98,00.html

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