Cyberattack Targets Israel’s Technion University

The attack on the Technion University came nearly a fortnight after a massive cyberattack targeted Israeli chemical companies operating across the occupied territories.

According to the Walla news site, the cyberattack was carried out by a group called Darkbit, which demanded 80 bitcoins from Technion, which is equivalent to $1,747,971.

The group has also said that the amount will go up by 30% if the ransom is not received within 48 hours.

“You will receive a decrypting key after the payment. Notice that you just have 48 hours. After the deadline, a 30% penalty will be added to the price. We put data for sale after 5 days,” DarkBit wrote in a message on the university website.

“We’re sorry to inform you that we’ve had to hack Technion network completely and transfer all data to our secure servers. So, keep calm, take a breath and think about an apartheid regime that causes troubles here and there,” DarkBit group wrote in the mail.

“They should pay for their lies and crimes, their names and shames. They should pay for occupation, war crimes against humanity, killing the people ... and destroying the future and all dreams we had. They should pay for firing high-skilled experts,” the hacker group further mentioned.

The group also shared a TOX messenger ID through which individuals can contact them to recover their personal files. DarkBit has claimed that the files are encrypted using AES-256 military-grade algorithm. 

“Any try for recovering data without the key (using third-party applications/companies) causes permanent damage,” DarkBit wrote.

The university said it is postponing scheduled exams due to the ransomware attack, but classes will continue as usual. Its website remained inaccessible at the time of writing.

Back on January 30, a group of hackers launched a massive cyberattack on Israeli chemical companies, warning their engineers and workers to quit their posts before they suffer severe repercussions of the Tel Aviv regime’s relentless violence against Palestinians.

“Our message to chemists working in the chemical factories is to leave their job, look for a new one, and take refuge in a place where we are not present. This is while we have a strong presence anywhere,” Russia’s Arabic-language RT Arabic television news network cited the message published by the Electronic Quds Force.

It added, “We confirm that your work in chemical factories poses danger to your lives; however, we will never hesitate to melt your bodies with chemicals next time an act of aggression is perpetrated against Palestinians.”