Israel Retaliates Against Saudi Hackers

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon compared the recent cyber attacks perpetrated against thousands of Israeli citizens by a hacker using the online moniker of "oxOmar" to terrorism and, as a result, merit the same response. The Jerusalem Post reported him as having said that "no agency or hacker will be immune from a response."

Last week the personal details of tens of thousands of Israelis, which included their full names, phone numbers, addresses and credit card details, were leaked online by oxOmar. The hacker explained that his goal for doing so was to harm Israel both socially and financially as a response to the Palestinian occupation.

The first published list included 18,000 Israeli credit card account details, followed by an additional list of 11,000 accounts. Israeli officials claim that only 14,000 credit card accounts have been affected by the hack, information that prompted oxOmar to threaten to release details of some 80,000 more accounts.

Meanwhile, Israeli hackers have made claims to having in their possession thousands of credit card numbers that have been used on various Saudi websites.

"If the leaks continue, we will cause severe damage to the privacy of Saudi citizens," threatened one of the Israeli hackers according to the online news source Ynet.

Several Saudi banks embarked upon an extensive campaign to increase security over the weekend in order to safeguard transactions and better monitor their websites.

One Israeli blogger announced that he has tracked down oxOmar who is believed to be a Saudi Arabian resident and only 19 years old. Another blogger posted his belief that oxOmar in fact hails from the United Arab Emirates and is currently living in mexico.

oxOmar himself sent an email to Yediot Ahronot, an Israeli newspaper in which he asserted that his name is in fact Omar and that he lives in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Omar boasted that, because he is a skilled hacker and not just a beginner, it is impossible for anyone to find him.

The afore-mentioned Isralei hacker stated that the group he is affiliated with are "working on exposing his true identity, but it isn`t our main priority," according to Ynet.

Doug Nicholas

Doug Nicholas, a financial consultant by profession with a Masters degree in International Business from Brown University, is also an ardent writer. Though he has a full time job at one of the companies listed on Wall Street, he does manage to squeeze in time to follow his passion. He puts his ideas to words in his articles related to finance and business.