Websites of Four Major Ports in Israeli-Occupied Territories Knocked Offline by Iraqi Hackers

It comes weeks after a group of pro-Palestinian hackers from Bangladesh shut down the websites of two commercial Israeli ports.

Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, reported that a hacker group calling itself "ALtahrea Team" took down the websites of Jaffa Port, the Port of Haifa, Acre Port as well as the Port of Eilat on Wednesday.

Back on August 2, the Hebrew-language Yedioth Ahronot daily newspaper reported that a group of pro-Palestinian hackers, named Mysterious Team Bangladesh, had brought down the websites of the Port of Eilat and the Port of Ashdod.

It remains unclear whether the hackers managed to steal any sensitive information or personal data.

A week earlier, social media activists said various Israeli websites were offline due to a widespread cyber attack that was perpetrated by the Iraqi hacker group ALtahrea Team.

Among the affected sites were the Lifters website, the Nadlan World website, and the website of the Liam Group.

At the time, Iraqi hackers posted a picture of Iran's top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated along with his Iraqi comrade Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s PMU, in a US drone strike authorized by former president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.

They also placed a tab in order to play the official anthem of the Hashd al-Sha’abi on the defaced Israeli websites.

In a similar incident, Israel’s NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd, the company building the light rail network for the Tel Aviv area, said last month that its website was temporarily disrupted by a foreign cyber attack.